Saviors of Olympus
by AlbinoMuskrat
Summary: The summer after Gaea's end is bringing lots of change. Nico and Reyna discover true love, and Percabeth encounters German and Norse demigods on a mysterious mission to the Upper Midwest. When a very powerful demigod warns of an apocalypse that will destroy all that they know and love, it's up to the nine to save the world! A new Camp Half-Blood adventure! Features Reynico.
1. Percy: We Make a Friend

**Percy: We Make a New Friend**

Ah, New Rome.

It was more than a little perfect.

It had been a great first year at college. Gods, college. I would've never thought I would be at COLLEGE. I remember back to the days when being a Greek demigod meant you were dead before eighteen. You NEVER planned for a "life" because it could be over before you knew it. This, however, I could get used to. And with the now free-flow traffic between the Greek and Roman camps, New Rome was busier than ever. So much so, in fact, that I was actually working with Annabeth for her architecture final project. The project she decided on? New Athens, Camp Half-Blood's Greek counterpart. It was to be much smaller, of course, and more decisively Greek. Therefore, more personal.

It was that summer that it felt like I was eleven again. Why? Annabeth and I were on a quest.

Again.

We would've had company, but the rest of my war buddies said they would probably come along later.

What was our quest? Minnesota, of all places. Chiron said that he'd been getting some godly feedback from that area and we should go check it out. Little did I know what we would unleash.

We left New Rome for Camp Half-Blood, and surveyed the construction updates. They were building a small town on the other side of Half-Blood Hill, which was going to renamed the Acropolis since the Athena Parthenos was now there. Travel between the two camps was so good since Hazel put in a Mist-based passageway that we could go to college in New Rome but live at Camp Half-Blood in the completed housing in New Athens. We got the necessary supplies and set off for Mount Olympus for a questing brief. With both camps working together and Delphi still cut off, all questers need to go to Olympus for a meeting with the god or goddess in charge of it. Our god? Boreas.

"Minnesota, eh?" said Boreas. "Yeah, we've been getting some fuzzy signals from there. Not interference, mind you; but more like a signal for help, or a hailing signal of some sort. Humph," he continued. "Careful. The signal- it's not Roman or Greek. Exercise caution, and you'll need these." All of a sudden, two large purple backpacks appeared. Inside each was one parka, a wool hat, a Minnesota Vikings football jersey, a Norwegian phrasebook, and some other necessities. "Vikings?" I muttered. I was a Giants fan. "And why Norwegian?" Annabeth wondered. Boreas shifted uncomfortably. "The Northern lands of that area are heavily Northern European," he murmured. "Mostly Scandinavian." I got the feeling he wasn't telling us all.

We took a train, because it seemed safer than wandering around. The Upper Midwest wasn't exactly on my bucket list. The only contact we had with that area at all was the encounter with the Cyclopes in Detroit and the Hyperboreans to the far north. That area was a demigod dead zone. And, as I thought harder, that WAS a little strange. "Hey," said Annabeth as we prepared to depart. "It's going to be alright. Whatever it is, we'll deal with it. We always have." "Will we be destroying any cities on our way?" I asked. She laughed and said, "Of course, dummy. How does Cincinnati sound?" We laughed.

We were on our way.

And that's when he rolled around.

About halfway to Ohio a most interesting kid wandered about our seats. He looked like me when I was thirteen, almost strikingly similar. But he wore a Bayern Munich soccer shirt (How did I know that? I don't even like soccer) and had a cap with a sky-blue and white checkerboard rectangle on it. Although Annabeth looked like she was about to say something, since it was free-for-all seating, we invited him to sit with us. And that's when things got weird.

He took one look at us and said, "Wunderbar. Halbgott." We must have been looking at him like he was insane because he gave us a puzzled look and said, "Sind Sie nicht deutschen Halbgötter?" Annabeth, looking concerned, pointed at our shirts and whispered, "Camp Half-Blood. Greek." It took a while for the words to register, and he still looked rather confused. Then, Annabeth did something I never saw her do before. "Griechisch." She herself looked taken aback; "I have never spoken a word of German in my life." "GERMAN?" I said, a little too loudly. "Shhh!" she hushed. Her look of utter confusion had nothing on the look our guest was giving us. He looked downright shocked, then muttered, "Heilig Scheiß."

In a heavy German accent, he started to communicate. "Griechisch? Greek? What Greek? And what is Camp Half-Blood? Is that like Camp Siegfried?" Annabeth and I exchanged a look. "Where is this Camp Siegfried?" I asked quietly. "Rapid City, South Dakota," he responded in a matter-of-fact way. "My name is Siegmund. What is your names? And where is this Camp Half-Blood?" "I'm Annabeth, and this is Percy," Annabeth said cautiously. "We will discuss our camp in Rapid City."

I took a potty break to communicate with Chiron. "Chiron, I have some… interesting news. We have a German half-blood sitting next to us on the train speaking of a Camp Siegfried. Should we investigate further?" Chiron seemed to pale considerably. "Percy, you are to ask your friend to talk to me." "Uhhhhh….. okay…." I respond. I gently tap Siegmund on the shoulder. "This is going to be kind of strange," I begin, "but our camp's second-in-command wishes to talk to you." I gesture towards the lavatory. He raised his eyebrows and said with a sort or defeated resolution, "if you insist."

After what seemed like an eternity, he stepped back out.

"Perseus," he said in a low, matter-of-fact way, "Chiron wishes to speak with you."

I step back in. "Percy," Chiron said hurriedly, "you are to go to Rapid City. Find out everything. Godspeed!"


	2. Leo: Surprise, Surprise

**Leo: Surprise, Surprise**

We flew over the cloud layer for what seemed like forever. I think the only thing that kept Calypso from falling off of Festus was the fact that her arms had a death grip on my stomach. Yeesh, ease up a bit! When we descended, it was night over the East Coast. New York City wasn't exactly hard to spot- you just had to look for the glob of lights. "See, Calypso? That was my home." "Was?" she answered unassured. "I don't intend to return in person for a long time," I said with confidence. I didn't, as a matter of fact. Not only did I not know what day (or year) it was, I felt that moving on would be smarter. I wouldn't let them go on thinking I was dead, however. I still had a couple of tricks up my sleeve.

We touched down much further south. Even though it was only dawnbreak, I knew exactly where we were.

Houston. The humidity, the dust, the mosquitoes the size of dinner rolls- it was all coming back to me.

"Where are we exactly, Leo?" asked the girl that had been asleep for the last gods-know-how-long that we'd been flying. She looked it, too- her hair was in a frazzled mess, her eyes were half open, she sounded like she'd had a little too much nectar the night before. "This, Princess, was my first home. And it will be my future one." I landed Festus near a swamp grove and checked around. There was a large field in the center of the grove. _This is where it was going to stand_, I said to myself. _This will be my masterpiece_.

After much sweat and toil (and help from Archimedes spheres) I had built our home. The inside of it reminded me of the Argo II- lots of metal and wood, gently humming along. I had Archimedes spheres all around the place. The outside of it was like the Argo II's deck. The house looked like a giant, Celestial bronze ship had been buried and someone forgot to cover the top half. Calypso provided the finishing touch. With a shimmer, she enveloped the whole place in Mist, making it invisible to mortals. This truly was my finest achievement.

Inside, I had developed some new tech with the spheres. I was now going to test that.

Calypso and I stepped inside a white room and closed the door. The room was empty, other than a glass panel that showed the sphere that was controlling it. I said, "Sphere, show Camp Half-Blood." And the whole room seemed to change, and all of a sudden, we were on Half Blood Hill. It was like we weren't in a room at all. "Megaphone," I commanded. A megaphone appeared in my hand. "Calypso, disappear." "Why?" she demanded. "You'll see," I said, giving her a smile. Rolling her eyes and with that ever-attractive humph, she vanished.

It was daybreak over there, while the sun was just appearing in Houston. I could hear groans from some of the closer cabins and see people shifting towards the common area. I tapped my megaphone to make sure it was on.

"RISE AND SHINE, SLEEPING BEAUTIES!" I bellowed. "IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD! THE SUN IS SHINING, THE BIRDIES ARE CHIRPING, AND LEO VALDEZ HAS RETURNED!" All of a sudden, about 100 groggy and half-asleep demigods wandered towards Half-Blood Hill. I saw Jason and Piper wandering out, wheeled around towards me, and there eyes got wider than dinner plates. Hee hee. I walked down to the foot of the hill. Piper marched up to my face, gave me a glare that would turn Medusa into stone, and yelled, "YOU IDIOT!" She then promptly wound up and swung right at my head. To the amazement of her and just about everyone else, it passed right through me.

"Surprise, Beauty Queen," I laughed. "But wait! There's more!" And at that moment, Calypso appeared right at my side, hand in hand. "Leo," Jason chuckled. "You've invented the hologram!" "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold up! The holo-what now?" I respond. I had, of course, heard of the hologram, but I figured it would be less realistic. "Nevermind that. We have to talk," said Jason.

"Yes, we do," said a firm but calm voice. Chiron had appeared, and I knew that things were about to get a lot less happy. "Can I bring, um, my significant other here? She's kinda been trapped on an interdimensional island for the last three thousand years or so," I asked. Calypso gave Chiron puppy eyes. He relented, and we were on our way to the Big House.

"Nice seeing you again," said Jason. He was still wearing the glasses he got from Asclepius. It made him look like a professor. "And you too, Professor Grace," I called after him. We ran into the Big House, where Hazel, Frank, Reyna, and Nico were waiting. Hazel squealed with happiness, and Nico and I shared a passionate bro hug. With Jason and Piper running in, that left only two people absent. "Where's Percabeth?" I ask. "Is that what people are calling them now?" asked Nico with a raised eyebrow. "By any measure, far from here," Chiron responded. "That is what we are to discuss, I think," Jason guessed.

"To make a long story short, we have recovered Delphi. Apollo was able to drive away Python and restore order, and thanks to him we have our next prophecy," Chiron stated. "I'm going to assume that you wish to know what it is." _Great_, I thought. _I just got here! Do we really need to?_

_**In the lands of forest, mountains, and ice,**_

_**There lies a vast barbarian's paradise.**_

_**The purple hate them, these bringers of woe,**_

_**But everlasting peace can avoid a deadly row.**_

"Well, then," I say, breaking the silence. "Any clues on what it means? Praetors, anything?" Reyna looks very concerned, her breathing shaky.

"The destruction of Rome was brought upon by peoples from the North," she said hesitantly. "We called them _barbara_, barbarians. They ransacked an already crumbling Rome and destroyed the Western Roman Empire." "Well, what do we know about them?" asked Piper. "They came from north of our northernmost outpost, Vindobona. This is now called Vienna, I believe," Frank suggested. "In our modern language, we had one name for that land: _Germania_." "Germany," Jason finally realized. "In the North, there's a German demigod outpost?" he said, with an unusual passion.

"This is where things get fascinating," Chiron ventured. "On their way to Minnesota to investigate some phenomena, Percy and Annabeth met a demigod. He did not know of a Greek camp, but he did recognize them as demigods. They wisely chose not to mention the Roman camp. Now this is the interesting part. This demigod introduced himself and communicated in one language." A silence so thick I could cut it with a knife fell over our group. "German," Chiron finished. "Where are they heading, Chiron?" said a very intensely focused Reyna.

"Rapid City, South Dakota," Chiron said cautiously. "To a place called Camp Siegfried."

**Hey-o, peeps! Author here! This is my first really thought-out fanfic, hope you're enjoying it! A few notes:**

**- I plan on doing at least one chapter a day.**

**- I will, at some point later, include a German/Norwegian glossary so you don't burn out Google Translate.**

**- Please review and share with friends!**

**Peace out, awesome people! (10/12)**


	3. Nico: I Get a Girlfriend

**Nico: I Get a Girlfriend  
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I wanted to explode.

I had seen what the Germans had done to my childhood home. They let the Allies destroy us from the south while they pillaged and raped the north, the filthy backstabbers. They lured us into a hopeless battle with promises of conquest and riches, and our desperate nation, needy for respect, plunged headfirst- and got slaughtered.

The last thing I was going to let them do was to ruin the friends and family I had worked so hard to make. I finally had a home environment, and I would destroy all who got in my way.

Including these nasty, vile Germans.

As I sat on a log in Camp Half-Blood's forest, stewing in thought, I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder. Before I could look up, she said, "Nico? Do you want to talk?"

Gods, I could love Reyna.

A lot of people at camp had been making buzz about Will and I. Ha! Will and I get along quite nicely as friends, but there's nothing there romantically. Reyna, on the other hand…

"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt," I mutter. "What's going on?" she said casually as she plopped down on the log next to me. She held my hand in the palm of hers and said, "Don't be afraid. We've been through a lot. I've seen you do things way scarier."

So I told her all that I said here. "My homeland was destroyed by Germans who lured my nation into World War Two. They backstabbed us in the end, and plundered the country." Reyna looked at me, confused. Oh, gods. I hadn't told her my WHOLE story. So I told her.

Afterwards, she was silently for a long time. I didn't blame her. Then, she spoke. "I, too, have a grudge against the Germans. I am a Roman praetor, and my mother is a war goddess. However, we must establish stable communications with this… _other _camp. We don't even know anything about them- their way of life, their gods, what people they are. We need to know those things. We just got out of a war. I personally don't want another." And she looked like she was about to say "_and certainly not against THEM."_

I replied, "I was told by my, er, sister that holding grudges is my fatal flaw. Maybe you're right. I'm going to help out however I can." Reyna smiled, and got back up to leave. Just as she was about to exit the forest, I suddenly was overcome by a premonition of… well, I don't really know what. It felt like loneliness, fear, hate, and love. Weird combo, right? But it took control, and I unleashed my raw emotions into a giant, black fountain of all these feelings that I had bottled up for, well, _years_. After about thirty seconds of this, it stopped, I gasped for breath, and next thing I knew I was in the fetal position on the forest floor, sobbing uncontrollably.

Reyna was there helping me up, and I was in her arms. "Oh Nico," she said. "Nobody should ever have to go through your pain. Let's go for a walk after dinner, tonight? On the beach? Maybe that will help things." _Merda_.

Who do I go to for advice? I've never done anything remotely close to this before. I've never FELT this way before. UGH. I HATE EMOTIONS.

Hmm. Piper…? -_uncomfortable and unsure look_- Eeeek. Fine, I'll give it a shot.

So I ask Jason, "Where's Piper?" Because, you know, that's not weird at all.

He replies, "I believe she's in the Aphrodite cabin." He raises an eyebrow.

"Okay. Thank you," and with that I hurry off.

I knock on the door of the Aphrodite cabin. A Hades kid as king an Aphrodite kid for love advice would be like an Ares kid asking an Athena kid for advice on mathematics; it was just unheard of (heh, heh).

Piper responded. Once the other kids saw me, they immediately burst into giggle fits and whispered gossip. I looked up to the heavens and mouthed, "_why me?_"

She herself looked surprised. Well, that wasn't really new. She stepped outside (for my sake probably more than her own) and said, "Well, Nico. This is a… surprise. What can I do for you?" "Um, are you, uh, kinda, like, busy, you know, right now?" I asked. With a shrug, she said, "No, not really." "Can we walk n' talk?" I ask nervously. "Sure," she replies.

We walked awkwardly for a moment, then she turned on me and said, "Spill."

So I said, "So I have feelings for someone. I've never felt love like this before. I don't know how to handle it. The first time I did, I exploded in the forest." Piper cooed, "Aww! That's sweet. Who for?" "Um, well, uh, Reyna." Piper looked like she would explode from an excess of "totes adorbs". "Oh my gods! Tell me tell me tell meeeeeeeee!" "Calm yourself, please. You're scaring me. I like her and she's asking me to take a walk with her after dinner. I don't know why." Piper said, "If that's the case, she must like you too! Eeeek!" And with a squeal, she ran off to her cabin. Wonderful. So, Piper = no help.

I decided to act more cautiously. I asked the only other person I could trust. I hated him sometimes, but it was worth a shot.

_El Shocko _himself.

"Could I talk to you, Jason?" I asked quietly. "Sure, what's going-" "Alone," I interrupted. Jason shrugged and said, "Okay, what's happening?" I took a deep breath and said, "I have a crush on Reyna and she asked me to take a walk with her on the beach after dinner. How do I handle this?" Without missing a beat, he said, "Just be honest. And dude, I hope it goes well. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, deserves this more than you." And with that, he left, leaving me in a state of quasi-hope.

Dinner went off without a hitch. It usually did. After it, though, was when fun started to happen.

Reyna and I were on the beach at sunset. Our walk had ended, and we were sitting on the sand, talking about our recent adventure. I was about to recount how I got to Camp Half-Blood in the first place when she spontaneously asked, "How do you feel about me?" Talk about being blunt.

Oh gods. I started forming a swirling black cloud around me, regressing into my emotion bubble again. What I expected her to do was to pat me on the back and ask if I was alright. What I did NOT expect her to do was to go all Spock and _freaking mind-meld with me._ As she shared my pain, the black dissipated gradually, until all that was left were a few wisps.

What she expected me to do then was to grumble about my problems. What she did NOT expect me to do was to say, "I love you."

I didn't expect me to say that. The words just sort of fell out of my mouth, I guess.

I ran away. I ran into the Hades cabin, shut and locked the door, and darkened the cabin. I refused to answer the door for her. Yes, she ran after me. A little weird, but okay. I heard her say, "Nico, please. It's really cold outside and I need to get in." Wait, what? It wasn't Reyna at the door. It was Hazel. "Oh, sorry about that," was my half-hearted response. "What happened to you?" she asked. But I was asleep by then.

In the morning, Leo and Calypso had vanished- they were, after all, not REALLY here- and all of the Roman leadership- Frank, Reyna, and Hazel- had to go back to Camp Jupiter to discuss this prophecy further. But before they could leave, Reyna begged me to come. "Nico? Please? I don't when I'll see you next." I moped on over to the away group. She grabbed me, turned me around to face her, and said, "Look me in the eye, Nico." I looked into that face so destroyed by false hope and false promises, that beautiful face that needed cheer. "I love you, too." And she pulled me and full-frontal kissed me right on the lips. Right there, in front of all of the camp. Then after what seemed like forever, we held each other.

And that is when I learned to love.


	4. Annabeth: We Tick Off the God of Thunder

**Annabeth: We Tick Off the God of Thunder**

Um, yeah… about Cincinnati…

We stopped over there for a one-hour layover before heading to Chicago. From Chicago, Minneapolis. And from there, Siegmund would take us to Rapid City, South Dakota.

During our layover, we met a particular person that Siegmund did not seemed pleased to meet.

We were walking in Laurel Recreation Area, just across the highway from the UH-mazing Cincinnati Union Terminal. While on a walk, Siegmund stopped and stared at a particular individual. Maybe the word 'individual' isn't proper to use here. The word 'god' might be.

He wore simple armor, but I could tell that it was indestructible. And yet it wasn't Celestial bronze or Imperial gold, but instead it looked like plain ol' steel. The gold inlays, however, were gorgeous; obviously, good craftsmanship had gone into this. But it wasn't the armor or his handsome physique (the guy looked like Jason, but with longer hair, and red hair at that). It was what was sitting on his lap.

This was a hammer that would put Hephaestus to shame. It was constructed out of what appeared to be a solid tungsten rod, carefully molded to his grip. And topping the behemoth was a rectangular chunk of solid metal, probably the same metal as his armor. This was clearly a god, and I prayed that Siegmund knew what he was doing.

"Lord Donner!" gasped Siegmund, and he bowed to the god. The god promptly started chuckling, and said, "Du patetisk Tysk!" A look of confusion briefly fleeted across the young German's face, and it was soon replaced by a look of almost murderous hatred. He started yelling, "Thor, du elend Teich Abschaum! Zurück unser Gold!" Thor laughed, and said (in English) "What gold? You mean the gold we used to pay off the gods for the death of your comrades?" "DU STÜCK SCHEIßE!" bellowed Siegmund. He pulled out a long, golden sword; and by golden, I mean, _really, actually _golden. It looked as though the ichor of gods themselves were used to make it. "Ich bin der Träger des Nothung, das Schwert des Siegfried! Nehmen Sie einen Schritt weiter, und ich werde Jörmungandr sie Mühe sparen!" Thor just laughed as Percy and I desperately tried to restrain our new friend from attack the god of storms himself.

As Siegmund wildly swung his sword around aimlessly, Thor guffawed, "Du lure! Jörmungandr og jeg er ikke ment å sparre før Ragnarök! Den dødelige sverd vil gjøre deg noe godt." Siegmund screamed, "Götterdämmerung wird früh kommen, wenn Sie nicht für Ihre bösen Taten entschuldigen!" And with that, Thor looked like he was going to hit us with his hammer, but he instead threw it right at the sky. "Oh, Scheiße," whimpered Siegmund. "RUN!"

We got on the train just as a massive lightning bolt electrified all of Cincinnati. Percy and I looked at Siegmund, who was, by now, shaking nervously. His sword was put away. "What were you two arguing about back there?" inquired Percy, with more than just a hint of anger. Our guest looked at the two of us and said, "You are both in great danger. We need to get straight to camp after Chicago. Schnell!"

When we got to Chicago, Siegmund looked nervously behind the train. "What are you looking for?" I asked. "Storm clouds," he replied, panicked. It was a blue sky; I certainly didn't see anything. That is, until Percy said, "DUCK!" And just as we did, a massive lightning bolt struck the train and utterly destroyed it. Thank the gods we had our stuff with us.

"Well, that's fantastic. How are we getting to Rapid City now?" asked my very frustrated boyfriend.

It was answered by, well… he looked like a god, but something told me he wasn't. The guy looked like Thor from the recent movies; admittedly, that is how I thought Thor was going to look. "Right this way, Freunde," the mysterious man said. "My name is Siegfried."

**Author's Note: If you want to know what the two characters are saying, Siegmund is speaking German and Thor is speaking Norwegian. Use Google Translate. (10/13)**

**Oh, and I apologize for two things:**

**-the short chapter (I'll start a new one today)**

**- I changed Matthias' name to Siegmund throughout the whole book. Matthias just seemed too "new German" for a camp that's supposed to be "old German".**

**Fine, I'll give you the translations:**

Du patetisk Tysk! = You pathetic German!

Thor, du elend Teich Abschaum! Zurück unser Gold! = Thor, you miserable pond scum! Give our gold back!

DU STÜCK SCHEIßE! = YOU PIECE OF SHIT!

Ich bin der Träger des Nothung, das Schwert des Siegfried! Nehmen Sie einen Schritt weiter, und ich werde Jörmungandr sie Mühe sparen! = I am the bearer of Nothung, the sword of Siegfried! Take a step further, and I will save Jörmungandr the trouble! (Jörmungandr will be explained later)

Du lure! Jörmungandr og jeg er ikke ment å sparre før Ragnarök! Den dødelige sverd vil gjøre deg noe godt. = You fool! Jörmungandr and I are not supposed to spar until Ragnarök! The mortal's sword will do you no good.

Götterdämmerung wird früh kommen, wenn Sie nicht für Ihre bösen Taten entschuldigen! =Götterdämmerung will come early if you do not apologize for your evil deeds!

Scheiß/Scheiße = shit

Freunde = friends

Raganarök and Götterdämmerung will be explained shortly.


	5. Frank: I Teach Anger Management to Rome

**Frank: I Teach Anger Management to Romans**

When Reyna, Hazel, and I got to Camp Jupiter, the legion was in an uproar. Apparently, prophecies are not limited to one camp only. Oh, how I wish they were.

So I arrived to take charge of 100-some odd screaming, bellowing, murderous soldiers. Oh, joy.

Reyna screamed, "SHUT UP! RANK AND FILE!" At that, the legion organized themselves and (rightly so) shut up. Thank the gods. "All right, Frank, you're up," she says to me. Yeah, thanks. "Romans, we have a new prophecy." "WE KNOW! DEATH TO BARBARIANS!" screamed the entire legion. Reyna and I shared a look; this was going to be much harder than previously planned. "Did we even have a plan?" I asked. "No," she said. "Improvise." Wonderful. I get to teach a bunch of bloodthirsty Romans how to be nice, all of the top of my head. Even better.

"Alright, Romans, listen up!" I began. Here went nothin'. "Yes, the prophecy spoke of a barbarian's homeland in the north. But, I must remind you, we don't know WHO these barbarians are. We don't even know where they're located." I felt bad about lying to the legion, but it was all I could do. "Until Reyna and I find out more details, lay waste to your battle plans! And when we do come in contact, we will issue peace!" "PEACE?" screamed a warrior. "Barbarians in the North, Gods know how many, and we're going to attempt PEACE? THESE SAVAGES LAID WASTE TO THE ROMAN EMPIRE!" "Yes, we are going to attempt peace if possible, because if these are who I think they are, if we go into a war with them… We. Will. Not. Survive." I accented each of the last four words for emphasis. The legion got deathly quiet real fast. "Yes, we're the last vestiges of Rome, and yes, we have the best fighting force of demigods in the nation. But remember- we thought the Greeks to be barbarians. See how well we're getting along with them? My point is, we can't fight an unknown force. We must study the enemy, evaluate options, and execute a plan. We don't even have first base covered yet. Be patient, Romans. The time will come." And with that, I dismissed them.

After they had left, Reyna looked at me, raised her eyebrows and said, "Nice. And on the spot, too." And we stood there, semi-awkwardly, for about five minutes. "Want to go get food?" "Yeah, I'm hungry. Let's go."

After food, Reyna came up to me and said, "Chiron wants us back at Camp Half-Blood. There's a second half."

**I felt bad for last chapter, which was super short. So I'm giving you a third chapter for today, that's also super short.**** (10/13)**


	6. Reyna: My Life Is No Longer the Same

**Reyna: My Life Is No Longer the Same**

You could say that again.

I'm still praetor. I'm still Reyna. I'm still a daughter of Bellona. But I'm DIFFERENT.

And the frustrating part? I'm still trying to figure out WHAT is different.

Sure, I'm trying to help decode a prophecy that may mean communicating with the _one demigod group in all of the demigod world _that could raze Camp Jupiter to the ground, slaughter everyone, and take over our lands. And they could do it quicker than any group the gods have faced.

Sure, I'm communicating between two camps that one year ago would have slit each other's throats.

But the biggest difference? I'm _loved_. _Honest-to-gods LOVED_.

I could kill that boy with one blow to the temple with the hilt of my sword. But I won't. Why? Because not only is it a needless death, but he has friends who count on him. And I can't. Why? Well… because I love him. A LOT.

And not just _I-love-that-kid-he's-oh-so-nice-to-me _kind of love. I've had that way too much. No, I'm talking about the _I-want-to-settle-down-with-him-and-be-happy-together _kind of love.

I've been harpooned on this kind of thing for years by members of my own legion. "Reyna? Too serious. Too diplomatic. Too political. Too this or too that." But truly I tell you, there is a magical difference between a political alliance and having romantic feelings for someone. And by the gods I will use that magic to make me happy with him, and make him happy with me (at least, happier than he already is). Because that boy will die of heartbreak if I don't.

UGH. Thanks for the vent. I needed that. Now, back to the story.

The Camp Jupiter delegation had returned to Camp Half-Blood, and we were greeted by two new folks, Rachel Elizabeth Dare (the in-house Oracle) and none other than Apollo himself.

Once we had gathered in the Big House, I knew it was big-time. Not only were all of the head counselors there (minus Percy and Annabeth), but there was a live feed of us going back to Camp Jupiter's Senate.

I had the feeling that something bad was going to happen. Did it? Well, sort of.

Apollo explained. "Um, yeah, the prophecy I gave you- that was sort of the SparkNotes version. The original was so complex that I felt that a short version might you bros understand it better, know what I'm sayin'? So, I'm here to give you the full and complete prophecy. Here goes nothing." He cleared his throat.

_**On Middle-Earth nine half-bloods stand**_

_**To venture to the north, hand in hand.**_

_**Those hands will never be broken by hate**_

_**But they can be by Helheim's gate.**_

_**If the thief of the aura is by a hammer found**_

_**Eagle and skull shall forever be bound.**_

_**To avoid the death and destruction of all,**_

_**The fire god must die in the golden hall.**_

"Oooh! Sounds much better!" said Connor Stoll. He then made a face. "What's _Helheim_?" "And THAT, my dear boy, is what Annabeth and Percy are going to find out!" said Chiron. "Now that the new prophecy has been uttered and written down, this council is to decide what it means." "I know what it means," said a high, unfamiliar voice from the doorway. I looked and saw a scrawny boy, about eleven of age, wearing what appeared to be a Viking helmet and holding in his hand a tattered leather book with one of those old string bindings.

"And who are you, dare I ask?" asked Dionysus, who had until now been reading his magazine in the corner of the room.

"I'm Erik, and I'm from North Dakota." As everyone shared a nervous expression, this little boy said, "I know exactly what Helheim is."

"I've been there."


	7. Nico: We All Get Nightmares

**Nico: This Little Kid Scares the Crap Out of Everybody**

As we all sat there wondering what to make of this kid, he formally introduced himself. "My name is Erik, and I'm from Fargo, North Dakota. I was exiled from there because of my parentage. I am a demigod… in a sense."

And, honestly, I believed him. This boy- he couldn't have been older than twelve- radiated an aura that seemed to make everything cold and damp. He carried a pure black staff with him that seemed emit some sort of signal- _you touch me, you die._ Chiron responded, "Where were you exiled from, Erik? Tell us everything." He really shouldn't have said that.

"I am twelve years of age. My holy parentage is thus: I am the son of Hel, Goddess of Death, Ruler of Helheim, Ninth Realm of Yggdrasil. She is the sister of the beasts Fenrir and Jörmungandr, and the three of them are the children of the union of the god Loki and the giantess Angrboda. Loki is, in turn, the blood brother of Thor and the adopted son of Odin."

After a very, very uncomfortable silence, Clarisse, in all of her infinite wisdom, said, "If you're the son of the Goddess of Death, you would get along very well with Nico over here," she said with a sideways smile at me. Erik laughed, but it wasn't a cute little-kid laugh. It was more adult. And scarier.

"My apologies in advance, daughter of Ares, but the son of Hades has very limited array of power compared to me." I was beginning to like this kid less and less. "You see, in the Norse world, demigods of Aesir- that is, like your Olympians- became kings; the first kings of Denmark, Norway, and other Scandinavian nations were children of Odin. They did not, to the best of my recollection, have supernatural powers. However, my mother is not a member of that pantheon. She was the offspring of a god and a giantess, and was given power by Odin to control Helheim, named after her. All who do not die in battle go to Helheim. She is the master of the dead. When I was born, she transferred powers to me that only she could provide- then kicked me out and sent me to Midgard, this planet. I am mortal for now, but that is my only limitation. I have powers that I doubt you've ever seen. My mother's realm is one of the most impressive you'll ever see, probably even as impressive as Asgard."

"So, you're essentially a demigod, but with special powers," I asked. He nodded. "Don't ask me how I came about- you might lose your lunch. But I will tell you several things about my upbringing."

"I spent the first eleven years of my life in Helheim, learning the ropes of rule over the dead from the best there is. Then, when she thought I was mature enough, she sent me here. It's very gray and boring in Helheim, so I thought it might be a good change in pace. Then I ended up here." I felt that he wasn't telling us _everything_, but we got the gist. However, a certain… _human _couldn't keep her mouth shut. "If you're so all powerful, why don't you show us some of your powers?" Gods dammit, Clarisse. He raised his eyebrows and said, "Okay, but wait until sundown. It's most powerful then."

You know how they sometimes say that time seems to slow when you can't wait for something to happen? Well, seeing the powers of the supposed Heir to the Dead kind of sent my ADHD hogwild. At least, waiting to see it happen.

So at campfire, as the coals wound down, the whole camp was anxious to hear about the new kid. Chiron introduced him. "We have a… visitor," he began. Erik seemed to appreciate the word choice. "This Erik, from North Dakota. He is determined, but he is not of Greek or Roman origin." The whole camp started to buzz again, but at Chiron's insistence, they calmed down. "I'll let him introduce himself." As Erik stepped forward, his aura seemed to grow- the coals almost disappeared and it became much, much colder. In the almost complete darkness, he said, "I am Erik, son of Hel, the Norwegian goddess of death itself." Holy crap. So that's why he was so… mysterious. "I am the heir to Helheim, the Norse realm of the dead and the Ninth Realm of Yggdrasil." These words still had no effect, because we had no idea what they meant. "I was asked to demonstrate my power. Follow me." The whole camp followed the boy into the middle of the central field and formed a wide circle around him. With everyone watching, he intoned in Old Norse: "I summon Hel, my mother, goddess of the end of mortal life, ruler of the dead, master of Helheim, and lady of the Roots." He raised his black staff, and drove the end into the ground.

Immediately, all living matter within a ten-foot circle died and crumbled into dust. Then, all of a sudden, the source of everyone's nightmares for the next two weeks appeared.

She was about eight feet tall, and she looked like a corpse. There was a thin layer of skin covering the bones, she wore robes of eternal grey that were tattered beyond repair, and then her face… good gods. Her eyes were pure black, and she had a thin slit for a mouth. Her hair was black and ragged. She stood right in front Erik, and politely took a knee to bow to his… mother? Then, she spoke.

Without opening her mouth, she said, "This is indeed my son Erik." Her voice was very clear and high, and yet she did not open her mouth. "And I am indeed Hel. I have not sent Erik here out of a secret mission, I assure you. Death has no need for such things, because in the Norse world, death is the fate of all, even the gods. Even I will die, and I will need him to be protected, for he will assume my place in Helheim. As for his power… let him show you." She provided a faint white light that illuminated a small area over near the forest. A deer stepped out into the meadow, oblivious. "Oh, gods, no," whimpered Piper. "Oh, no!" I saw Erik hold out his palm, and a small forming of black cloud started to get smaller and smaller, with the faint sound of something charging up. Then, in an instant, there was a black jet and the deer was dead. Just. Like. That.

She continued, "everything he has told the leaders of this camp is indeed true, and he shall reveal more when the need comes." And with that, she disappeared, and everything went back to normal. Except the memories of everyone who saw this smallish kid kill a deer with his mind.

Chiron said to Erik, "I don't think the Hermes cabin will suit you this time. How about the Hades cabin?"

So Chiron gave me a kid that is supposed to be the ruler of Death and can flat-out _kill things just by looking at them_ for a bunkmate. Yeah, love you too.

**General question: should I have the Germans and Norwegians speak their respective languages, or should they speak English?**

**Also, I assure that of the weird terms you are unfamiliar with will be cleared up shortly. I promise. **

**How are you liking it so far? Hope it's good! (10/14)  
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	8. Author's Intermission

**Author's Intermission**

I'm going to give you guys a break and basically summarize what's happened so far.

- Percy and Annabeth are on a quest to determine the cause for strange signals coming from the Upper Midwest; they meet a German-speaking demigod speaking of a German demigod camp in South Dakota; on their way, they meet Thor, the Norse god of thunder; the German demigod goes nuts and Thor tries to kill the three of them twice, only to be rescued by the German hero Siegfried, who will take them to the German camp.

- Leo and Calypso have built a house in Houston that is invisible to mortals, and Leo has developed hologram technology.

- Nico is struggling with emotional instability and a new bunkmate.

- Reyna is struggling with her romantic leanings for Nico.

- And speaking of new bunkmate, a Norse demigod with incredible power arrives at Camp Half-Blood; he is revealed to be the son of the Norse goddess of death and he is there for an as-yet undetermined reason.

**Keep on reading! And don't forget to review!**


	9. Hazel: I Visit the Argo II In Houston

**Hazel: I Go On the Argo II… In Houston**

I was sleeping that evening. Or at least, trying to with the super-powerful death-ray kid in the same room.

All of a sudden, I felt like I was moving. It was very terrifying, and before I could scream, I was falling. Falling. Falling. And then… WUMPH.

I was face-down in a quagmire of mud and other nasty little things. As I spat out the muck, I looked at my surroundings. It was nighttime, wherever I was. It was hot, sticky, and there were giant mosquitoes. So I was going to guess the South.

All of a sudden, I felt as though a porch light had been turn on. Oh, gods. Oh, gods, no. The inhabitants were going to wonder what in the world a girl in her pajamas was doing spread-eagle face-down in the mud. Then I heard a voice: "Oh, no! Let me help you up, dear. Oh, look at you. Let's get cleaned up." Strong but feminine hands helped me up and walk me towards… woah.

It looked like the Argo II. At least, the top half of it. A girl was walking me across to this place that she called a house. She looked about 15 or 16, but wore… a Greek chiton? As soon as we got in the house, before I knew what was coming, I hit the deck. And all went black.

After an eternity, I woke up. I was in a relatively comfortable bed, in the same clothes as the girl who helped me up. I was in what appeared to be a guest room of some sort, with still no idea where the heck I was. All of a sudden, the door opened, but the light stayed off. "Hazel?" whispered a voice that sounded maddeningly familiar. Then the light turned on. Thankfully, I was braced for it.

And who was standing in front of me? None other than the Tofumeister himself, Leo Valdez. His arm was around the girl who had helped me into the house. She looked as old as Leo and I were; about 15 or so. She had everything going for her; almond eyes, auburn hair, the faint wisps of cinnamon in the air. And I knew exactly who she was: Calypso. And they were in love.

"So, Cap'n Crunch, this is where you ran off to. A bloodsucker-infested swamp in the thicket of the Gulf Coast-" He completed my sentence: "-otherwise known as Houston." With a laugh that I had never heard out of him before, he said, "Indeed. Let me show you around my home."

What Leo had done was amazing. It was identical to the inside of the Argo II. Only with a special room that Leo said "will let me be home away from home." It was evident he planned on living here permanently, and nothing I said could convince him otherwise. However, the things he showed me looked like they were ripped directly from science fiction. He showed me the hologram room he used to come to Camp Half-Blood, and the project he was currently working on: the teleporter. "That's how you ended up here," he said sheepishly. "I hadn't cleared out some informational clutter in the program, and instead of transporting me there, it sucked you here." "Doesn't matter now- this stuff is amazing!" I exclaimed. And it was. I always wondered where Leo's mind wandered sometimes. Now I had a pretty good idea. The area that looked like the general conference room from the Argo II was now a living room with two chairs, a carpet and a fireplace. Littered all around the place were mechanics magazines and blueprints for various inventions. The kitchen right next to the main room. It had virtually everything you could ever need. "Wow, Leo, and with no income," I whistled. "How was this all possible?" "By this," he said, and showed me to the main control center. There in the middle was an enormous Archimedes sphere. "I built hundreds of these suckers from leftovers," he said. "They power and operate everything. I control them only."

Eventually, though, the topic turned to camp. Although he reaffirmed that he wasn't going back, he agreed to visit via hologram every once in a while. "Until next time, Hazel," he said, reaching out his hand with a big ol' grin on his face. I shook his hand, then quickly withdrew it in pain. The bugger had Joy-Buzzered it! Calypso was laughing really hard, and it was funny to hear her laugh. Soon, we all were.

I was then back in bed, wondering whether it had all really happened. Well, the pain in my right arm told me it had.

**So, I'm going to keep the PoVs to Annabeth, Percy, Nico, and Reyna, and inserting the rest at intermittent times. It's just too much for me to keep track. (10/14)**


	10. Percy: We Swill Beer With Band Nerds

**Percy: We Swill Beer With Band Nerds**

Siegfried was actually a really cool dude.

I agreed with Annabeth: he DID look like movie Thor. With the exception that his armor was 100% gold.

And he had an all-powerful sword and helmet.

And the fact that he cursed in German a lot (but THAT was to be expected).

When we got to South Dakota, we touched down near Mt. Rushmore. "I thought you said Rapid City?" asked a confused me. I had seen a large city on our way, and I was pretty sure THAT was Rapid City. Then again, I had never been to this area before, so I wasn't certain.

Siegfried shook his head. "No, the pantheon is in Rapid City. Camp is in the Black Hills. Just… over… here! Ha! Here we are!" When Annabeth and I looked, we couldn't believe what we saw. With great views of Mt. Rushmore, there was a full-blown camp that looked like one of those postcard Bavarian villages you see. There was a market, a village square, a beer hall, and a large garden space. Once out of the town square, a path led to hundreds of small cabins. "Camp is not organized like any other," Siegfried proclaimed. "The Germans have always prided themselves on community and brotherhood. What you see here is essentially like a hostel, but with two or three people to a cabin and on a pick-your-own-roommate system. But further is our pride and joy." About a mile down the road, we walked into a very large… soccer pitch? "It's currently football season," said Siegfried. "The cabins have allied themselves to form teams." "That's really cool," said Annabeth quietly. "No, Fräulein, the cool part is this." He led us down beneath the stadium and, lo and behold, was the most state-of-the-art training facility I had ever seen. Archery, sword fighting, hand-to-hand… every possible technique was there, with high-end equipment and technology. Further down was the war room, where battle strategy classes were held, and the situation room, where camp brass met if there was a conflict. It was like Athena and Ares created the ultimate training facility. "You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd think that you guys are preparing for something," I said half-jokingly. Siegfried turned around and said with a glare, "We always are. Always be prepared for war."

Trying to break the tension, Annabeth asked, "So why is this place named after you?" "It isn't," said Siegfried. "That's just the name for it outside camp so it's easier to remember. The actual name of this place is Medjanagardaz." "Bless you," I said. "What does that mean?" "It's the old Germanic word for the inhabited world," explained Siegfried. "The blasted Northmen took it and simplified it to their tastes. They call it Midgard." _Midgard_- that word struck a bell. I had heard that word before. Where? But Annabeth beat me to it. "I've heard that before. Where?" Siegfried looked mildly annoyed. "Please, Fräulein, stop asking such obvious questions. Midgard is the word that those… those _Norwegians _used." He said 'Norwegian' like it was a dirty word. "Please, Siegfried, we need to understand," I asked. Siegfried was by now quite irritated. "We will discuss this at a later-" He was cut off by a loud BOOM. We ran all the way out to the ground level soccer pitch. Storm clouds had gathered. "You didn't run into trouble, did you?" Siegfried asked warily. "Well…" started Siegmund sheepishly. "We might have ticked off Thor," I finished. Siegfried got deathly quiet. "Boy, we use the German names here. Donner is the appropriate-" "No, I mean _Thor_. The Norse guy." Siegfried immediately demanded, "What happened?" Siegmund got on his knees and begged, "Please Siegfried, forgive me. He insulted my nationality and said that he used the gold to bribe _OUR GODS _for the murder of our brothers!" Siegfried got very, very quiet, and I had the feeling that it wasn't for lack of things to say. Instead, he reached behind him, and pulled out a long, golden (by this point, I was no longer surprised) spear. And this thing was like a Roman _pilum_- it was about 8 feet long and pure gold (seriously, what was it with this guy and gold?). He said, "Thor, du SCHEIßKOPF!" and threw this spear into the atmosphere. Once it seemingly touched the clouds, there was a very loud BAM, and the cloud layer sent out large amounts of electricity. "Let's see how he enjoys THAT, the Arschloch." "What did it do?" asked Annabeth. Siegfried gave an evil grin and said, "It sent out an electromagnetic pulse, Fräulein. It will disable all things that require electricity for the next- oh, I don't know- couple of hours. Let's see Thor try and use his magic mallet THIS time!" We saw a large metal object fly into the sky, but it couldn't do anything and crashed to the ground to the very angry protests of its owner. We continued towards town.

"Ah, it's about dinnertime! Come, experience the legendary German _Jägerfest_!" exclaimed Siegfried. We followed him into the beer hall. Everything stereotypically "German"? Yeah, that was this place. The place was filled with long, communal tables crammed with hundreds of happy Germans. A Bavarian brass band played in the front. We found a spot and sat down with the others. "What do you do? We're new here," I asked my neighbor. "Dude, just grab a plate and a stein and ask Wotan for grub and beer!" "Beer?" Annabeth asked, raising an eyebrow. The kid rolled his eyes, leaned over, and said, "Well, it's not _really _beer. The gods gave us this stuff to replenish our energy after long days. They said it was called beer, so that's we've called. Think of it as a good old fashioned Bavarian energy drink! Good for the body and good for the soul! It's what keeps the kids here sane. That, and the food, and the music, and, well, everything." Annabeth and I looked at each other, shrugged, grabbed plates and steins, and said, "Wotan, fill 'er up!" Immediately, our plates filled with hunter's meats, breads, cheeses, butter, and the most wonderful fruits ever. Our steins filled with a dark brown liquid that resembled the color of maple syrup. "What's your name?" I asked our neighbor. "Gunther," he said, between a mouthful of bread. "I play in the band and orchestra here. Almost a quarter of the kids here play an instrument. This here's the musician's table! I play bass trombone!" About halfway through, the band played a chord, and everyone stopped. All of a sudden, in the most magical moment I've ever participated in, several hundred raucous, rollicking Germans sang the drinking song "Enjoy Life". "_Hojotoho_, Perseus!" shouted the kid who had talked to us earlier. "Have an instrument and come join us!" I managed to catch something in midair; it was a trombone. "Come play in the band!" I had never touched an instrument in my life. _Well_, I thought, _now's the time to__ try_. It was indeed a learning experience, but Gunther managed to give me a crash course in trombone. "Play 3rd," he said. "3rd what?" I responded. He pointed to the line of music. _Oh gods_. _Apollo, forgive me._ Despite my complete ineptitude, I managed to gut-thump my way through. The picture of Annabeth, Gunther and I, with our trombones, stands as probably the best time I've had outside of camp.

And that is the story of when Annabeth and I swilled beer and devoured bratwurst with the best of 'em, and I played trombone with a German beer hall band. That was a really fun day.

And it had nothing on what followed.

**Hojotoho (ho-yo-to-ho) is a German exclamation similar to our "Hey!" or "What ho!"**

**Jägerfest (YAYGER-fest) means "hunter's feast" or "hunter's festival", usually featuring meats, dairy products, bread, and fruits. And beer, of course :)**

**Scheißkopf (SCHAYSS-kopf) literally means shithead, while Arschloch (ARSH-lohk) means asshole. You're welcome for new German swear words. :)**

**Fräulein (FROY-line) is an outdated German word that used to mean any girl/woman who wasn't married; **

**ever since they made Frau the universal word for woman, Fräulein is usually reserved for girls too young to be called Mädchen (girl; MAID-chen, with**

**a slight 'y' sound after the 'ch').**

**Calling a young adult like Annabeth 'Fräulein' would be considered rude; the proper term for her age is Mädchen.**

**And there's Camp Siegfried! Don't worry, there will be more soon. (10/14)**


	11. Reyna: I Seduce the Ghost King

**Reyna: I Seduce the Ghost King**

I really hated that kid. He scared the crap out of me. But whatever effect he had on me was nothing compared to the torment Nico endured.

They didn't interact at all, but Nico was overtaken that evening by a large premonition of fear. He felt cold and (horrifyingly) wet. When he woke in the morning, there were literally dozens of bug corpses littering the ground. When that Erik boy was asked, he replied that he decided to exterminate all pests within the cabin as a service. Nico said that if he didn't control that power and _quick_, he would end up exterminating things a lot bigger than insects.

And this is strange. Since when did I care about Nico's problems?

Ever since our farewell, he's closed himself off, not particularly to me, but just in general. And it was really making me mad. I _loved_ this kid. Couldn't he tell that?

So what did I decide to do? Well, before I could decide anything, he decided first. Or, depending on how you looked at it, didn't decide.

I was taking a walk in the forest during the early morning, when it was still cool enough to do so before it got to unbearable temperatures. The forest was really pretty in the morning, with the sun shining between the trees. It was a good place for a walk.

When I got back for breakfast I saw him. He looked at me for a good three seconds, looked like he wanted to say something, but didn't. And that made me mad. So I decided for him.

At lunchtime, I sat at the Hades table with Nico, Hazel, and (ugh) Erik. Now that it was daytime, I could look at all three of them and think, _Yep, they're definitely demigods of death_. They all had that quality- lots of black, with that sad part of them that knew they were going to be alone, probably forever. Except that wasn't true with one of them- Hazel had Frank. I had seen what Frank had done to Hazel's life, and I wanted that for Nico. As I ate silently, I felt all three of them staring at me. By far the scariest was Erik. His eyes such a startling shade of blue they were almost grey, and they seemed to bore into my psyche. Gods, that kid was creepy! There was Hazel, whose eyes told a sad story. Well, considering that she died once, I wasn't surprised. Then there was Nico, whose eyes told a story of hatred, betrayal, despair, and fear. No wonder the kid was so on guard about everything. He'd probably been stabbed in the back so many times that Julius Caesar wished he had it easier. And it made me love him more.

That afternoon, I put the legion on leave. They were free to go into New Rome for the weekend. They most likely noticed that this was the fourth day in the last week that I gave them shore leave; surely, they must notice that something was going on. I needed to do something, and fast. So what did I do? I took the Fates into my own hands and made a drastic decision.

I was going to seduce the Ghost King.

I transported back to Camp Jupiter via the Mist passageway Hazel had opened up after the war. Sneaking into my quarters, I took off all of my clothes. It felt like years since I had willingly chosen to wear something other than my praetor's armor. I chose a simple white dress. Nothing fancy. It felt… right. I let my hair down, after having it in a braid for a long time. _It's time to be a civilian_, I thought. _Enough being the lynchpin of the entire legion. I just want to live life. _I didn't look like a complete _meratrix_, but it should be enough to get the job done.

It was just in time for the camp to gather for dinner. As we went to donate a portion of our food to the gods, I prayed silently for Percy and Annabeth. Gods know how they were holding up, stuck in a barren wasteland, surrounded by barbarians.

I ate with the Aphrodite kids this time. Why, I'm still not sure. But the minute I sat down, I was surrounded by girls who had nothing better to do than gossip. And who was the center of that gossip? Do you really need me to tell you? I had had enough of being the center of rumor that I _couldn't _get a boyfriend; the last thing I wanted was to the center of gossip of _how many or which boys _wanted me. Piper pulled me aside and said, "Girl talk."

We ate at one end of the table while the other girls ate at the other. Piper leaned over and said, "Alright, what's going on?" I feign confusion and say, "What _is _going on?" "Don't play stupid, Reyna," says Piper, and I know then that I have no chance of faking this thing. "You're not in your uniform. I can't remember you never _not being _in uniform." "Just a change of pace, that's all," I reply. Piper gives me a sideways look and says, "Alright, but I'm keeping an eye on you."

After my meal, I went off to find the Prince of Darkness himself. It didn't take too long to do that.

"For Hades' sake, Erik, stop DOING that! It's seriously creeping me out! I'm the head counselor, and you get to follow my orders!" I smirked and walked over to the Hades cabin. I knocked on the door and asked in the sweetest voice I could muster, "Nico? Can you come out here please?" Soon, the door was answered by Erik, who rolled his eyes and yelled, "Nico, it's Reyna." I heard someone running. Nico burst out of the door with no shoes on. Or socks, either. "Sorry, Reyna. I'm just trying to reign in this… child." Erik glared and started to form something out of that creepy black cloud-like stuff he seemed to have no shortage of. "Let's go, before he summons some other… thing." With one last poisonous glare, Nico walked towards me as the door closed.

I just noticed by then how, well, _different _Nico looked this time. He wasn't wearing his aviator's jacket, but rather an orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and shorts. With no shoes, of course. And I forgot how tall he was- he was almost as tall as me now. As he walked over towards me, his eyes grew wider and wider. When he got to me, he was having trouble keeping his eyes on mine. I smirked. _Drink it all in, boy,_ I thought. He ran and we held each other. "Gods, why are you so… attractive?" he whined. I laughed. "Let's go, my king," I said. He raised an eyebrow at that. "But you're not a ghost," he said, confused. I laughed. Oh, Nico, you're so dense sometimes. I ran my hand through his soft, black, spiky, and adorably messy hair.

"How's Mr. Death handling camp?" I asked. Nico groaned. "Ugh. He is completely untamed. He has very little control over his powers, which really scares me. Now that I think of it, _HE _really scares me. He keeps summoning these, I don't even know what, _THINGS_ with that weird cloud stuff. It's like he was taught all the things he could do with his power, but not how to control it." "Then again," I pointed out, "It's not like Mummy Dearest is doing anything to help this matter. If you had a corpse for a mom, how would you live?" Oh, gods, I'm stupid. Nico started to cry. "Hey, I didn't mean it like that. Sorry, Nico." Nico wiped his eyes. "S'okay," he muttered. "You look very pretty, I might add," he said. "Aw, thanks," I replied with a smile. "Just a change in pace." "Whatever the pace is, keep it up," he said.

He stopped me and said, "Reyna, I have to tell you something. But I want it to be kept secret." Oh, boy. "I had a crush on Percy when I first came to camp. I thought it was a phase and everything, but the more I think about it, I don't think my feelings are a phase. Reyna, I'm, well, bi." I turned and said, "Nico, those feelings are okay to have. They're just feelings! I don't care!" I said with a laugh. I, of course, remember Nico's flashback when we were in the South last year, but I could tell he felt better saying that.

By then, we were at the beach. "Aw, remember this, Nico? Our _first date?_" He suddenly paid very close attention. "Woah! Wait a minute here. I wasn't aware that we were dating," he said curiously. "Oh, for the love of the gods, stop it," I reprimanded. "We are now," I said, getting closer. I changed my voice to be a little more quiet and a little sneaky. "And I'm in love with you, Nico di Angelo." His eyes widened. "You mean… y-you m-mean…" he stammered. "Yes, Nico," I said. I could tell he was struggling with the words, but they did eventually come out. "I'm in love with you too, Reyna," he sobbed. He came close, and we kissed, our first actual kiss. It feels like just yesterday.

I had a boyfriend in Nico di Angelo.

**That felt good. I just wanted to write some shameless Reynico fluff :) (10/14)**

**Don't you worry, guys. Reyna will eventually have complex character development. I just have to get this out the way ;) (10/15)**

**Oh, and meratrix is Latin for whore.**


	12. Nico: The Most Bizzare Night Ever

**Nico: The Most Bizarre Night Ever**

After Reyna and I became official and everything… wait. Yeah, before I continue, let me address THAT.

It felt good coming out, especially to a person like Reyna. It scared the tar out of me to think of the reactions of the friends I've worked so hard to make; I'd thought I'd lose them. But no, it seems like what kind of people you're attracted to plays second fiddle to things like, let's say, whether you'll survive the next day (or not). I _WAS _genuine in my feelings for her, and it also felt really good to finally being able to tell her how I truly felt about her. But gods, that kiss- it was like time stopped. That moment felt like forever. It was just me and her, nobody else. It was the most wonderful moment of my life.

So, anyway… I was walking back to Cabin 13, wondering if Erik had summoned any other otherworldly creatures, when I heard voices from inside the cabin. Hazel had left with Frank for Camp Jupiter, so that left only one other person. But there was definitely more than just one voice speaking.

So, being the sneaky SOB that I had gotten a reputation for around camp, I shadow traveled into the cabin, scaring the schist out of Erik and two other… _things_.

One of them was a wolf. It didn't just _look_ like a wolf; this was definitely a wolf. And it was huge. The thing was about ten feet long and almost as tall as me. It was pure black, and had a jaw that could open almost all the way open.

The other was the single biggest snake I've ever seen. It was twice as long as the wolf, and about as thick as the wolf was tall. It slithered up and down the walls and all across the floor, all while spitting droplets of lime-green venom. Beautiful. So now I have a cabin mate who has monsters for pets.

The wolf looked at me, growled, "Spy," and snarled, leaning back on his haunches, ready to attack. When he was about two inches away from my throat, Erik yelled, "FENRIR, NO!" and with a wave of his hand, the two beasts dissipated into black vapor.

I was breathing more heavy than ever before. I was still pinning myself against the wall. I swore that beast was about to eat my face off. "What… the hell… was that?" Erik sat in his across from me, a look of abject terror on his face as well as mine. "I'm sorry. I told… I said you were a friend… don't attack…" he panicked. He appeared to be as scared as me, but I felt it was for a different reason. "Who… _what_… were those… _things_?" After he got into a regular breathing pattern, Erik said, "Those, Nico, were my uncles. The wolf was Fenrir, and the snake was Jörmungandr, the Midgard serpent. Those two, along with my mother, were the three children of Loki and a giant named Angrboda. Those weren't actually them; Fenrir is chained up, and Jörmungandr is actually underneath the Pacific Ocean." "Then how, pray tell, was Fenrir about to eat me?" I demanded. "I recreated them using the Aethir." "And what is Aethir?" I continued. Erik said, "the Aethir is what powers my body instead of red blood. Aethir is the black vapor that gives me powers that no mortal has. It is what the camp saw me use two nights ago." And with that, he started to emit a small cloud of black vapor, and it responded to his beck and call; whenever he turned his hand, he was able to move and direct the vapor. With a wave of his hand, it disappeared. "This staff is what powers it," he said, pointing to that long black staff he always carried around with him. I grew more curious. "Tell me everything," I said.

He began. "I was born in a rather… _unsavory _way. Since there are no living creatures down in Helheim, other than Nydhogg, my mother had to make do with what was down there," he said, with a small look of disgust. "I was the result of a necrophilic relationship."

"Next, my mother imbued me with the Aethir, so as to make sure than when she faced her end, I would be ready to take her spot on Helheim's throne. She taught me how to use my powers, and when she thought that she had accomplished just that, she sent me to Midgard to learn how to control it. Only the problem was, children of the dead are almost, if not completely, nonexistent. I was deemed bad luck by everyone, and I withdrew into my thoughts and continued having random outbursts. One day, a couple of weeks ago, I got angry at somebody who said, 'I'm ready to gut you at Ragnarök', implying that I would be fighting for my grandfather and he would be with the Aesir. I lashed out with a massive quantity of Aethir, and not only did I kill him but also all life within 150 feet permanently. Thor, the guardian of the Norse camp, banished me forever; I wandered through the countryside, gathering news of the other realms from other Norse demigods I could find, which are few and far between. Finally, I ended up here."

I had way too many questions for him. But the first one out was: "Can you teach me about your worlds?" He chuckled and responded, "Yeah, sure. But wait until daytime."

That night I dreamed. Now this is not unusual; I usually do. But this time, I found myself in somebody else's dream. Whose? Erik's.

We were in a vast cavern, filled with grey and fog. It felt like light was coming from somewhere, but there was no source. It was very cold and very damp. Mosses and pools of water were everywhere. I saw a boy run across the rocky plain towards a tall female. This woman looked like a young Norwegian maiden you would see in a Germanic play or some sort, about twenty or so; and she was incredibly pretty (sorry, Reyna). The boy yelled, "Mother, Mother!" And I realized who that was. It was Erik, only about ten or so. And that woman was… oh. Oh.

The boy ran and the mother greeted him with a smile and a hug; "What did you do to Nydhogg today, Erik?" she asked with enthusiasm. "I zapped him with my Aethir!" responded the boy happily. The companionship didn't last long, though. Soon, the mother said, "Erik, I need to talk to you about something serious." She placed Erik on her lap. "Erik, Mommy is going to be going away." "Why?" asked a puzzled Erik. With patience and understanding, she said, "Soon, the forces of good and evil in the world will have a war. Do you remember what this war is called?" The boy took a while, but finally came up with, "Ragnarök?" "That's right," she said. "The Aesir, Vanir, and other forces of good will fight the forces of bad. And the worlds will end, and Yggdrasil will die. Because all of that will be happening, Mother will not need to be around here any more. You will have to take my place." "But Mother, you're a goddess! You can't die!" said an increasingly despairing boy. "Dear, Death is a fate for everyone, even the gods," said Hel. "Everyone fears Death. But you will survive Ragnarök, and you will become part of the New Order of gods. You will get the spot on Asgard I was denied." "No!" cried Erik. "No, I can't lose you! I don't have anyone down here! This is the Realm of Death! You and I are the only living things down here!" I started to cry. "Dear, I have to leave now," said Hel mournfully. "I will miss you, love." "No, Mom! don't go!" sobbed Erik. But it was too late. The beautiful maiden was turning into a hideous corpse. When she was finished transforming, her voice echoed, _Go to Minnesota. Learn to control your power, and you will save the world_. Still crying, the boy ran out of the gates of Helheim, not to return for many years.

**A tearjerker of a chapter. Sorry about that. But, I assure you, it's necessary for the plot. Happiness will return soon. (10/15)**


	13. Nico: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe

**Nico: Hitchhiker's Guide to the (Norse) Universe**

In the morning, when I woke up, Erik was staring at me. I jumped out of bed, and nearly my skin. "GODS, ERIK! Don't stare like that!" "Good, you're awake," he said cheerfully, and with a whistle he put on his clothes, grabbed his staff and walked outside, leaving me sitting in bed wondering, _what am I EVER going to to with that boy?_

As I walked out to breakfast, I joined him at the Hades table. Now that Hazel (as well as all of the other Romans) had left, it was just me and him. It was awkward for about five minutes before he sat up, looked at me with a matter-of-fact expression and said, "You know, I knew you were in my dream last night. You don't have to ask. What you saw is what, indeed happened." Then he went straight back to eating! I was never going to understand him.

Now that it was light out, I could get a better look at him. He was not exactly _short _per se- he was about half-a-head shorter than me, tall for his age. He had long grey hair. I don't mean silver, either- this was Athena owl, dismay-and-despair grey (don't tell Annabeth I said that). It was interspersed throughout by violent black streaks- like he had a hairdresser who didn't care about where to put the highlights and stuck them wherever. He had a more adult face, and he wore these metal thick-rimmed glasses. He was in relatively good shape; not ripped, but certainly was more than just skin-and-bones. He wore the same clothes every day- a wool cap, black t-shirt, and black basketball shorts, with grey Vans. And his eyes- his eyes were just _terrifying_. They were this 'almost grey' shade of blue, almost like an electric blue. And that staff- something told me it did more than summon his Mother Dear whenever he needed her. And another thing- the kid was like a telepath. He could _feel _what others were thinking. Like right when I was wondering about his staff, he said, "Gift from Mum. It came to me in a cornfield in Iowa. She said that she thought it might help regulate my control of Aethir. It's certainly helped since my… accident." I barely knew this kid, but something made me believe him about that. After thinking on the story, it hardly seemed likely this kid was a cold-blooded murderer. He was just pushed to his limits and it caused a tragedy. In fact, it sounded remarkably similar to me.

"Hey, Erik," I say. "W'sup?" he responds. "Would you mind telling me what Yggdrasil and all that jazz is about? You keep bringing it up." He smiles and says, "Hmmm. Might be a fun waste of time. Let's go! Do you have a particularly tall tree, one that's alone?" he asks. Curious question, but I reply, "We have Thalia's Pine." I point at it. He nodded, satisfied. "That'll do."

We walked over to Thalia's Pine. It had grown considerably, and it was, indeed, the only tree on the Acropolis (is that what we were calling it now?). We walked over to where we could see comfortably without craning our necks 'till they broke. "All righty. First things first- imagine this tree. It's at the center of the universe. It's called Yggdrasil- the World Tree. Everything in the universe grows off of this tree. He made galaxies, stars, planets with Aethir- drawing with that staff like it was a paintbrush. _Okay, _I thought, _that's actually pretty damn cool_. "Now," he continued, "Imagine nine realms- not necessarily planets, but close." He drew five spheres from top to bottom, and four in the corners with the third sphere in the middle, forming an X in the middle with two above the middle sphere and two below. "I thought you said nine?" I asked, confused. "Hold on," he said. "We'll get there. Now the first realm-" he pointed at the topmost sphere, and it grew bigger to show a close-up- "-is Asgard, or Godheim. This where the Aesir- Odin, Freya, Tyr, and friends- have their halls. Odin, like your Zeus, is the head. His hall is called Valhal, and it's where the honorable dead go." He drew a magnificent structure. "Actually, let's go there." "Wait," I said. "What do-" and before I knew it, we were tumbling through space and crashed into a large meadow, surrounded by magnificent mountains. "Welcome to Asgard," said Erik. And I couldn't believe what I saw when I looked up.

A magnificent, golden, HUGE city, with a massive central hall, spread out before me, hugging the mountains. We walked into the city, and I couldn't believe I was in the same city as Thor, Odin, and all of the Norse gods who had impressed me earlier in life. "And that's Valhal," he said, pointing towards a large, high hall. We could hear raucous fighting and yelling. "What makes a death 'honorable'?" I ask. "If they die in battle," Erik replies. "Then they go to Valhal to prepare for Ragnarök." "That's the war?" I ask again (I have a lot of questions). "More than just a war," says Erik solemnly. "It's the end of Yggdrasil and the Nine Realms as we know them. I'll explain to your leadership later." I got the feeling that it was even more serious than that. We moved on. "The gods don't accept visitors except on appointment, so we best be going now." "Tight security?" "You could say that," he replies.

We were back in front of Thalia's Pine. At the top, the first sphere had been filled with Erik's Aethir drawing of Valhal, and it withdrew back. The second sphere came into focus now. "This sphere is the realm of Alfheim, the home of the light elves." Ooh, elves? "Very little is known about it; it's only mentioned in our Eddas and Sagas a handful of times. Not enough information to visit, but there is enough to draw a picture." He drew a alpine meadow and forests, with towering mountains with Elven Homes built on them. "It's told to be a place of bliss and happiness. Only Freyr ever goes there, and the Norwegians don't really like him." "Why?" "Because he represents sacred kingship, which was a very key aspect in the early Scandinavian monarchies; as I might have mentioned before, the first kings of Norway and Denmark were sons of Odin by mortal women. He also represents sunshine, fair weather, and virility. But the reason Norwegians have a small disdain for Freyr is because he grew to recognized as a symbol of Sweden, with whom Norway has had a complicated relationship with over history." The second sphere withdrew and we moved on to the third sphere, which appeared to be the crux of the entire map.

"We don't need to visit Midgard, also called Manheim. We're standing on it." "So, wait. Midgard is Earth?" "Well, the realm of Men, really. There are three 'Earthly' realms. Anyway, Midgard and Asgard are connected by the Bifrost, a literal rainbow bridge that can only support the gods. It's manned by Heimdall, the god of the watch." He drew a rainbow bridge between the first and third spheres. He drew the Earth as viewed from space in the third sphere. It withdrew, and the one in the upper-left corner of the crux Midgard formed came into focus.

"This is Niflheim. On a linear interpretation of Yggdrasil, it's second to the bottom. It's one of the two primordial realms, along with Muspelheim. If you love opera, you'll recognize Niflheim as the home of the Nibelung dwarves from Wagner's _Ring _cycle." "Can we visit it?" I ask. "Not if you want to freeze to death," Erik snorted. It's a realm of eternal cold and ice. There are nine primeval rivers on the surface, all frozen. The Ice Giants used to reside here before permanently settling on Jotunheim. Niflheim used to be the realm of my mother before the gods granted her Helheim." He drew a bleak and desolate landscape, cold and unprotected from outer space; it resembled the planet Pluto. It withdrew, and the sphere reflecting it (in the lower right corner of Midgard's crux) came into view.

"This is Muspelheim, realm of fire and home of the Fire Giants, as well as fire incarnate, Logi. Not to be confused with my grandfather, do note," he said. "We can't visit this realm either. We'll burn." "Leo would love that place," I muttered. Erik chortled and said, "The son of Hephaestus wouldn't stand a chance; not only is it too hot, but its ruler, Surtr, is destined to be the destroyer of the World Tree during Ragnarök. He's not one to mess with." He drew a violent landscape of lava, flame, and volcanoes. It withdrew, and the sphere in the upper-right of Midgard's crux came into view.

"This is Jotunheim, and I wouldn't suggest going there if you don't want to die." "Why, what's there?" "Let's just say that the rough translation of 'Jötunheimr'- its original name- is Giant-home. The giants dwarf the gods, they're that big. And they're powerful. The trolls of Norwegian lore are derived from the 'jötunn', or giant. The giants are much older than the gods, and even some gods are part- or full-giant. Loki is full-giant, and is said to be the blood brother of Odin, who is half-giant; Odin adopted Loki, and Thor and Loki are siblings. Anyway, the Giants are fierce and crude; sort of like your Cyclopes, but with two eyes." He drew a dark and rocky world, and also a world of grass and sun. It withdrew, and the last sphere of the crux came into view.

"This is Vanaheim, home of the second family of gods. You see, the Aesir and Vanir had a war; they ended up compromising, and some Vanir became Aesir. They are very different however. Vanir are more about fertility, wisdom, and prophecy, whereas the Aesir are more about politics and war. I wish we could visit it, but it's mentioned less than Alfheim. In fact, it's only mentioned once, and that's only in passing. We can only imagine what it looks like." He drew something that looked like Asgard Lite- smaller, and more grass. "These three realms-" He drew a line connecting Jotunheim, Midgard, and Vanaheim- "-are called the 'earthen' realms. These two-" He pointed to Niflheim and Muspelheim- "-are the primordial realms, for they formed everything else." We moved to the two spheres below the X. We were in the home stretch. The second-to-bottom sphere came into focus.

"This is Svartálfaheim, home of the Dark Elves. We also call the Dwarves, but most prefer the former, which is more traditional." "Let me guess- we can't visit." Erik nodded. "That's right. But we can visit the last one," he said with a smile. Svartálfaheim withdrew, and that left one last sphere. I had a feeling in my stomach that I knew what realm this was.

"And, at last we reach Helheim. My home. What do you say we drop in?" Before I could protest, we landed rather uncomfortably on rocks. When I looked up, what I saw took my breath away. There was a gate and wall surrounding the realm that made Troy's wall look like a ground cover. This was massive, Cyclopean even. "Come, I know a back way," and I followed my host to sneak into the Norse Underworld.

When we got in, I was struck by how _different_ it was from the Greek Underworld. Instead of being black and full of awful noises and madness, Helheim was very grey, very foggy, very cold, and very, very damp. Light seemed to shine from _somewhere_, but it remained hidden. It reminded me of a very large cave, with moss and pools of… wait a minute. This is where Erik's dream took place. In the center of the cave was a massive palace made of cave rock. "This is Eljudnir, my mother's palace." As we wandered, we saw shapes meandering. This was eternal life? "Who's down here?" "Everyone who didn't die in battle," Erik replied. "After Ragnarök, this place will be emptied and become the realm for people who did really bad things. Here, let me show you some curiosities." I wasn't sure if I wanted to see Erik's 'curiosities', but I felt obliged to. After walking what seemed to be miles, we saw a massive… I don't even know what. It looked like a tree root twice the size of the Empire State Building, but so indescribably _bigger_. "That's the third root of Yggdrasil itself. Come." As we got closer, we seemed to leave the cloud of the mist. And what I saw made me nearly throw up.

It was a shoreline of a river, and I didn't really want to know what happened if you got _in _the river. It was covered in seemingly millions of rotting bodies. "Welcome to Nastrond," said Erik, who was clearly disgusted himself. "The Shore of Corpses. Oh, and there's Nidhogg," he said, pointing up into the web of roots surrounding the central root. I saw a massive dragon- and by massive, I mean _freaking huge_. "He's trying to destroy the root and kill Yggdrasil, for those roots is what holds the nine realms together. He feeds off of the corpses of Nastrond, then goes right back to chewing. Here, I'll annoy him." He shot a jet of Aethir at the dragon. The dragon roared in pain, and passed out. "We should go now," Erik decided, a decision I very much agreed with my self.

When we got back, Erik filled in the last sphere with Nastrond and Nidhogg. "You know, I should leave this up here. Just as a reference, you know?" I thought that was a good idea in itself. I don't know why.

I Iris-messaged my girlfriend that evening, I boasted, "You have no idea what I did today." "Oh, believe me, I do," she said. "How?" I said, puzzled. "Oh, you'll see." And she cut off the transmission, leaving me wondering what was going on.

**Here ya go. Extra-long chapter. Hope you learned some things. I had a lot of fun researching and writing this :) (10/15)**


	14. Jason: The King of the Gods is NOT Dad

**Jason: The King of the Gods is NOT Dad**

Piper's curiosity is what really drove this home. We were out on a walk when we happened across Thalia's Pine. And right then, I was like, "Whoa." All around the pine, swirling black clouds formed stars and galaxies, and there were nine spheres in a weird shape- a straight line of five, then four spheres forming an X out of the middle one. They were filled with pictures of strange worlds- there was one that all gold; one that was a frozen wasteland; and, at the very bottom, a disturbing image: a very large dragon gnawing on a massive root of some sort, and below him was a shoreline covered with innumerable corpses. They all looked like portals of some sort. "Where should we go?" She pointed to one sphere that appeared to be full of fire and volcanoes. No. Pointed to the middle sphere, which looked like Earth. I said 'no' because I had a suspicion it WAS Earth. "Let's go here," I said, pointing to a sphere that was filled with golden light, beautiful fields and huge mountains. "All right," Piper said. As the first sphere came into focus, we jumped towards it, and we were sucked through. We hurtled through space, with a shining planet dead ahead. Before I could say "Woah!" we were flying down into the large golden city at a speed at which point I would not be comfortable standing where we were going to land.

We crashed into the main plaza area, or something resembling it. When we untangled ourselves, we saw that we had nearly crashed into an old man. I felt really bad, so I decided to apologize profusely. He raised his hand to silence us, then said, "Come here. Follow me."

We followed him through the city towards the main hall. And this thing was like a cathedral- high spires and all. It was easily the tallest building in the entire city. Piper gave me a worried look. When we went in, we couldn't believe what we saw. The old man we had been following suddenly was in golden armor, with a magnificent helmet, sitting on a regal throne high at the front and center. "Who… _what… _are-" He cut me off mid-sentence. "You fell here. Do you know where you are?" We both shook our heads. The man sighed, then said, "You're on Asgard, or Godheim, the Third and the Highest Realm of the World Tree. I can sense you are demigods; what is your parentage?" Piper started, "I'm Piper, daughter of Aphrodite, goddess of love. And this is Jason, son of Jupiter, god of the sky." The old man seemed to have a little trouble breathing at this point. "Welcome, children of the South, to the North. I am Odin, king of the Aesir. I can see all on this here throne, and I can feel that you're here by accident. What accident brought you here, I'm not sure. But it worries me. You should not be here. Do you remember how you got here?" "I think we were looking at a map," I say. "A map, did you say?" asked Odin, still worried. "Um, yeah, I think so," I reply. "But it must be gone by now. So I guess that means we're trapped here, doesn't it?" Odin scratches his chin, pondering what to do with us. "I'll let you go back to Midgard, but I'm coming too. You'll have to go back via Bifrost. I fear that if children of the South are finding their way into Yggdrasil's fruits, it may be a portender of things to come. Maybe Bifrost is damaged, or, worse yet, Heimdall dead by some of Loki's treachery. I shudder at the thought," and to emphasize his point, he shuddered as if a sudden cold front had come in. We walked outside of the city gates to the edge of the field and over the mountains. And there, lo and behold, was an enormous rainbow bridge, with a sizable domed fort in the middle. "This is Bifrost," Odin said with a touch of pride. It connects Asgard with Midgard- your planet. And there was Earth, dead ahead. "I'll accompany you and introduce you to Heimdall. He's one of us, don't you worry." We walked on this _rainbow bridge_, and it was just so cool. One of those experiences you can only have as a demigod. Just those words say it all- _rainbow bridge. _It sounds so- mystical and unrealistic, and then you're there and BOOM. It was a literal rainbow bridge.

And we got to the large golden dome in the middle. The inside reminded me of a golden planetarium crossed with the inside of one of Leo's automations; a vast, cavernous, golden space, with gears and gyroscopes in the ceiling, operating the fort. In the middle was a quite tall, very buff guy wearing what could only be described as a magnificently horned golden helmet and armor. At his side he wore a large hunting horn made of brass and wood, and it was very beautifully decorated. "Hello, Heimdall," said Odin. "We have some visitors here who need to get back home." Heimdall regarded us with curiosity. "Hm. Children of the South? In the North? Eh. Stranger has happened. I don't see any reason for you to be restricted any further." He stuck a small dagger into a slot in the middle of the fort, then pulled on a lever. On the other side of the fort, a large door began to open up, revealing the other end of Bifrost and Earth. "The Bifrost will lead you to home, wherever that is," Heimdall said. "Good luck to you two," called Odin. "I wish you the best!"

When we stepped down, we were on the Acropolis again. Nico and that Erik kid were standing there, looking concerned. Erik said, "How was Asgard?" "How did you-" "I can sense things, son of Jupiter," he said. "I destroyed the drawing." He point to Thalia's Pine, which had no weird drawings all around it. "It was obvious that you had gone to Asgard. How was old Heimdall? I ran into trouble with him last time. He's a good fellow, just a little… _odd_. I destroyed the drawing because I didn't want to run the risk of someone _unwillingly _being transported to, say, Niflheim. They would never return. It was for the best."

"Yeah, you may have made it go away," said a voice behind us. We turned, and there was Rachel Dare, with a paintbrush in hand. "But not before I got to it." She smiled and pointed at the large backside of the Big House. It was a color version of what was on Thalia's Pine. "Oh," muttered Erik. "That might be the best thing to happen to this camp. Or the worst."

**Today's chapter. I've gotten requests for more Jasper, so while this may not satisfy enough, I'll put in a better effort in the future.**

**Also, this is the point where things actually start to happen. Hold on to your seats.**

**And yes, the Bifrost is actually a rainbow bridge. (10/16)**


	15. Piper: My Hairbrush Is an Omen

**Piper: My Hairbrush Is an Omen of the Apocalypse**

The next morning heralded the (possibly) most nervewracking and critical moment in Camp Half-Blood history. And it all began with a hairbrush and a stick of unimaginable power.

That morning I was having a particularly difficult time with my hair. The blasted hairbrush had been my faithful since I had gotten to camp; however, it seemed to be needing a replacement. So I went outside and was immediately blinded by sunlight. Oh, yeah. Forgot that was a thing. Surprise, I guess.

As I walked to the Hephaestus cabin to see if they could fix my hairbrush, I ran into the Hades kids. Well, the Hades kid and the… other one. And I quite literally RAN into them. Next thing I knew, we were all on the ground. "Piper, what in the name of my Dad are you doing?!" Nico asked, perhaps a little too harshly. I must looked hurt, because he immediately felt bad. "Sorry," he mumbled. "Carry on." "Wait…" says the other kid, Erik. "That hairbrush… do you remember where you got it?" I shrugged and said, "No, not really. I've had it since camp. It used to be really good, but it's getting dull, so I'm getting it fixed." "Oh no, you're not," he said. "We're going to the Big House right now. It is time to have the talk." I was seriously weirded out by this kid. What talk? And what did this have to do with my hairbrush? Well, apparently a lot.

Erik dragged the two of us into the Big House, and told a surprised Chiron he needed an emergency war council, and NOW. Chiron, apparently either knowing something we didn't or just assuming it was serious (probably that one), convened an emergency meeting, and webcast it to a surprised Roman Senate, who was in the middle of session. Erik took the leader's chair and said, "Romans and Greeks, I am a Norse demigod. The old sagas and poems are in my veins as much as in my brain. I know every prophecy and oracle that the three Norns- our version of the Fates- have uttered. And none stands out like the series of prophecies that are collectively known as the Ragnarök prophecies. These prophecies are like the mother of all spoilers. It tells how the world will end, step by step, who will die and how, and what happens in the Ultimate End." Silence from everybody. "Now, Piper has brought in a hairbrush. Or so she thinks." "Hey, wait a minute here," I complain. "That's my hairbrush. I've had it for a couple of years." Erik smiled and said, "Hand me the brush, Piper," and I dutifully did so. In his hand however, the brush grew into a fearsome spear, made of bone and a grey metal that I doubted any mortal would survive even a cut from. It sent out a signal, the same one I felt when Erik used his staff on that evening he summoned his mother- if you touch me, you will die. Erik very gently leaned it against a wall, where it was in full view of everyone could see it. "Magical items from the North do not transfer power to the South, and vice versa. Piper's hairbrush was, in fact, the hairbrush of my own mother- Hel, queen of Helheim, goddess of Death proper. And this"- he gestured at the spear- "is her spear. It is made from human bone, and the metal is from the river of Nastrond, a river of blades. The fact that the brush landed here- along with the fact that it's dulling- signals her end."

At this point I wasn't the only confused one. Katie was, too, as well as most of the Senate. "Wait. Are you saying that Piper's hairbrush was actually the weapon of the Goddess of Death?" "Yes, I am," he replied. "That… corpse?!" Reyna yelled from the Senate. As soon as she said it, his lips began to tremble, and his eyes began to water. "Reyna!" Nico yelled reproachfully. Immediately, Reyna looked extremely apologetic. He said very quietly, "That was not my mother. That was her death helm. She is preparing for Ragnarök. It is coming, and we are in no state to survive. I say we dismiss for a break. We have a world to save."

During the break, I found Erik sitting in the corner, silently. He glared at me as I sat down next to him. Jason walked over to see, but I waved him away. I need to be alone here, I said with my facial expression. He surrendered and walked outside. "I'm sorry," I said. He shrugged and said, "It's okay. She didn't mean to cause hurt. Nico is the only one who knows." At this he brightened just a smidge. "Are you two getting along?" I ask. He says, "I don't really know. We haven't really got any bonding time. I took him on a tour of the universe, but that wasn't really, you know." "Hey, maybe I can set something up," I say. "He's not a bad kid, he can just be quite intimidating." He shook his head. "I feel that we'll have plenty of bonding time soon enough, Piper."

We all reconvened, and Chiron asked that fateful question, "Erik, so what is Ragnarök? What will happen, and how can it be prevented?"

Erik cleared off the table so everyone could see. He pulled out that long black staff he carried with him all the time. "I must explain the beginning for you to understand the end," he began. "In the beginning, there was Ginnungagap- the great nothing. It was neither hot nor cold; light nor dark; or big or small. It was infinite, with enough room for a billion universes. There was no direction, no north or south; it was, to put it shortly, the empty void from which everything began. Spontaneously, two realms formed." With his staff, he drew a world of fire, volcanoes, black and red, and smoke. "The first was Muspelheim, the realm of fire and flame. The giant named Surtr came into being at Muspelheim's core, and he was the first being in all of creation. And yet, he was the opposite of benevolent; Muspelheim's name means 'home of the destroyer', and Surtr is prophesied to be the ultimate destroyer of the World Tree." At this he vaporized the drawing he had made, leaving the indelible image of the fire world in our minds. He then drew a planet of white snow and blue ice. "The other realm was Niflheim, the realm of water, ice, and cold. It, too, was desolate. The winds always blew on Niflheim, and it was always cloudy. There is the primeval body of water here: Hvergelmir, the river from which which all water in the universe can trace its origin. When Niflheim and Muspelheim met in the middle, it created everything. This is all you need to know to understand Ragnarok."

"The Beginning of the End starts when man kills man in cold blood- murder, betrayal, and other such awful things. Those that die in the ensuing wars go to Valhal, while the ones that committed awful deeds get to go Nastrond. These battles of Man are to continue for three years. When man has all but killed each other, a winter will descend on all nine realms. This is called the Fimbulwinter, and it will last for three whole seasonal cycles, with no summer in between. This will cause the sun to fail, and the two wolves pursuing the sun and moon gods will catch and eat them. There will be a massive earthquake, and mountains will crumble, trees will be uprooted, and wild beasts will run rampant. Then the Midgard serpent, Jörmungandr, will wake from his home under the ocean, and cause tsunamis to crash and drown the land. At the same time, Fenrir and Loki will release themselves from their bonds, and Fenrir will attack Midgard. He will be accompanied by Jörmungandr, my grandfather, Loki, and the jotunns of Jotunheim. The Fire Giants of Muspelheim will break through the sky, destroying Bifrost, lead by Surtr, who will destroy all that was created since he was, which is everything."

"Then the Final Battle takes place. Heimdall, the watchman of the Bifrost, will blow on the Gjallarhorn, signalling to the Aesir that it is time for the world to end. They will hold council with the Norns for the last time, then wage the Greatest of Wars, truly the War to End All Wars, the forces of good against those of evil. The Aesir will advance with the warriors of Valhal, along with the Vanir, Dwarves, and Elves. They will battle Surtr, Loki, Fenrir, Jörmungandr, and the Giants. Thor will take on Jörmungandr and slay the beast, but nine steps afterwards he will collapse and die from the snake's venom. Fenrir will swallow Odin whole, but Odin is avenged by his two heirs, who will kill Fenrir by ripping his jaws apart. Heimdall and Loki will duel and both will end up dead. Freyr will battle Surtr and die in combat. Surtr will die too, but not before flinging fire over the whole Earth and burning down Yggdrasil."

"Afterwards, though, Muspelheim and Niflheim will recreate Yggdrasil. It will be reborn, and Asgard and Midgard will rise again. On the grassy fields where the city and palaces of Asgard used to be, the new pantheon of gods will sit and rule; the new king will be Baldr, most beloved of the gods and killed by treachery; under him will be the sons of Odin and Thor, who will inherit their fathers' possessions. Midgard will be populated once again by two beings who hid in the tree throughout Ragnarök. As for my realm, Helheim, there will be very little use for it in the new world, but it will come into being as a new realm shortly afterwards. And the cycle of life continues for another age."

We all sat there silently. He could feel the fear in our hearts, because the next thing he said was, "The Norse fear and do not fear Ragnarök; everyone fears death. I know this firsthand, and I have the feeling a couple of other people do, too." He glanced over at Nico. "The Norse regard death as a fate to be suffered by all, even the gods. There is no escaping it, no getting out of it. It. Will. Happen."

I was still seeing the shapes he drew- monstrous beasts and awful wars that would destroy everything. Then- poof. It was all gone, and replaced by something simpler, cleaner, more pure.

Chiron finally spoke up in the shocked silence that had followed. "I feel the need for a quest," he said. Erik agreed. "Contact with the Norse camp is most essential. Especially because they are about to begin Ragnarök and not even realize it. As we speak, the German camp plans to attack the Norse camp for stealing something they didn't really steal. This clash of camps will herald the Beginning of the End, and then it's all out of control from there. I advise the bringing of three demigods. The Norse are lead by something similar to the Roman Triumvirate. If we could gain power in the Norse camp, we could avert war." Chiron agreed. "I personally suggest Reyna, Nico, and yourself. Obviously you would need to go; Nico going would be powerful, having two sons of the underworld there; and the praetor of the Roman camp, Reyna. It will balance out the three camps. I require a majority vote on this." I, of course, voted; and I prayed for their safety.

The motion was passed, and the three immediately started to get ready to go. As everyone was leaving, though, Erik pulled me aside and said, "Piper, I need to tell you something. You and Jason need to come along too. It could be the difference between life and death."

**The longest chapter yet. And yes, this is what happens during Ragnarök, and yes, Ragnarök will happen in this plotline, but not in this book. And no, I won't say who dies. That would be evil :)**

**Anyway, the five are off the prevent the Apocalypse! Yeah! Go team!**

**So, yeah. Review and share with friends, please!**

**Love y'all! (10/17)**


	16. Percy: We Discover the Truth

**Percy: We Learn the Truth**

A week had passed since we had arrived at Medjanagarnaz, or, as it was simplified to our tongues, Middle-Earth. It was good the first couple of days, but it got wearisome after that. It felt… kinda fake. It seemed too, I don't know, cliche. The Germans I read about from Roman times certainly didn't have settlements like this. Their societies were much different than this. I was beginning to suspect something was up, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

Just as these suspicions were beginning to make sense, I heard a knock at my cabin door. It was Siegmund, our old friend who had led us here. "May I have a moment?" "Sure," I say, surprised. We hadn't talked since we got to camp, so it was nice seeing him again. He was a good kid, about Nico's age. "Where's Annabeth?" he asks. "Taking a shower." "Ah. Well, I see that I will be communicating to you then. Um, you're not really at the camp."

There was a pause, an awkward one at that, before he continued. "Some of the camp higher-ups are beginning to think that this is the work of some darker spirit," he said confidentially. "This… society Siegfried has constructed is not what it used to be. It's unnatural," he continued. "This camp has been here since the end of World War Two, to preserve the bloodlines of the gods. We have not had a true demigod in years, if ever. Most of the people here are legacies, continuing the bloodline of the Germanic deities. When this camp started, it was much the same size, but it was a bit of a looser system. We raided the Norse a lot until our truce. We plundered the Romans for the last time in the 1960's. As our enemies become allies, the way of life became unnecessary. We needed to move on. So we became solely dedicated to preserving the Germanic pantheon, which has largely been hijacked by German nationalists- Wagner, Hitler and so forth. We needed a truly Germanic society, and we had one, for a bit. Then Siegfried came, and changed everything. He nationalized everything, made everything pseudo-traditional. Like, he said it was the German way, but it really wasn't. Now he has going on suicide missions."

THAT got my attention, as well as Annabeth's, who had just come out of the shower wrapped in a towel. "You said suicide missions?" she said, concerned. Looking at both of us, he said, "At age fourteen, the next Supreme Commander of the German Military- one of Siegfried's inventions- is chosen. At sixteen, he is sent to go retrieve a stolen artifact from the Norwegians. Not one has ever returned. I was sent on a quest, though, and I know the truth." My girfriend and I were, at this point, listening very intently. "There is no such artifact. Siegfried has been sending us to northern Minnesota to attack the Norwegians, and they execute them as spies. For, you see, the Norse and Germanic gods are like your Greek and Roman gods; same person, different names and personality. Their Thor is our Donner- same person, but Donner is more responsible and is our Jupiter. Same with Odin and Wotan, and Loki and Loge." We were alarmed by this, but what came next was worse. "I'm the commander," he said shakily. "And my sixteenth birthday is tomorrow. You guys, can you do something?" We looked at each other. "Maybe," we said. "We can sure as heck try." "Oh, and one more thing. Annabeth, no true resident of this camp would ever call you Fräulein," he said. "It's a word that conveys a misogynistic meaning. It was used to call little girls, or females who men thought weren't a concern. In the true ancient Germany, inequality was not really a thing; our best warriors were females, and even some of our military leaders. We didn't care, as long as you could contribute as well as the next guy." And with that, he left. Annabeth looked at me and said, "make the call."

I sent an Iris-message. "Get me Nico di Angelo! Quickly, please!" It soon showed me a campfire with Nico, Reyna, and a grey-haired kid I was unfamiliar with sitting around it. Nico looked up and said, "Oh, thank the Gods, Percy! You two are alive!" "Alive," I reply, "but worried. Where are you guys going?" "To the Norse camp," said Nico. "Well, if after tomorrow you run into a boy wearing German military armor, save him or intercept him. Do him no harm. We will explain later." Nico gave me a salute and said, "Will do, sir." And I cut off the message.

The next day was a rainy one. We all gathered in the soccer field, which by now had become a military parade ground. The atmosphere had changed since we came- more intense and war-focused. Siegmund was scared, I could tell from his facial expression and the look in his eyes. He really did not want to go on this mission at all, and I could understand where he was coming from. I was going to miss him. He was a good kid.

As the camp watched him hike off, they felt that this time would be different. The disappearance and death of their comrade would be used as a pretext for war.

**I wanted to point out that there was something unnatural at work in the German camp. This, too, is key to the plot. (10/17)**


	17. Piper: All You Need is Love

**The story of Idunn's Apples is an actual story. I suggest checking it out.**

**This hit really close to home for me to write; I was heavily bullied in school and was outcast by everybody. I really put my feelings and gut into Erik's story.**

**Piper: All You Need is Love**

We had been on the trail to Minnesota for four days. Four days of awkward campfires and silence. The group we had was not exactly the most social. Jason and I had each other, sure, but Nico was either shadow-traveling us or in a passionate embrace with Reyna, and she, in turn, was either with Nico or moping in the corner. And that _other _kid, Erik, was always mumbling to himself: "Heimdall… Bifrost… Germany… Valhal… plan…" It was really strange; then again, _he _was really strange. Whenever I tried to talk to him, I got several vibes: the _don't come near me_, the _I don't want to be around you_, and the ever-popular _you'll die if you touch me_. Yeesh. I could understand Nico, who wanted to be alone and therefore acted as prickly as possible. But this kid acted like he was _protecting _us from himself, like if we disobeyed his requests, something awful was about to happen. Well, as we landed in Ohio after Nico's second shadow-travel a week in (Nico took three to four days to recover), something happened that changed how we looked at not only him, but each other.

We crash-landed in Marion, Ohio at about 8 at night. "Gods, Nico," my boyfriend complained. "Couldn't you be a little gentler on the landings?" "I can only control the general direction we go, not the precise location!" he retorted. "Boys, boys," I said. "Let's not fight now." We have a mission to accomplish." "Yes, we do," replied Erik, "and we're not going to get there in time unless we get some supplies. Tomorrow, we go to Yggdrasil." That silenced everyone. We built our campfire on the edge of the fields, and set up our camp. Chiron had made him the quest's leader to no protest, but now I was about to go off on this kid. Yes, I understood that we had a mission, but dragging us around the universe was not my idea of getting things done. "You will listen to me, and do what I say, for I know things that will save your lives."

At this, I broke. He always went on about how he could save us, but never told me how. "If you're so magnificent, why do you need us along?" I snapped. "Why couldn't you, oh, I don't know, _save the universe yourself_?" I was on a roll by now. "I'm really sick and tired of you! News flash: you're a puny demigod, just like the rest of us! Start acting like it and not like you're some god, _BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT!_" Erik became very quiet. Then he stood up, pointed that stick he always had with him at our campfire, and without a word, it died. "DUDE, REALLY?" yelled Jason. "THAT WAS OUR HEAT!" "Oh, you want your fire back?" said Erik quietly. "I'll give it back." And suddenly we had a 50-foot high bonfire, rapidly getting bigger, getting really close to the prairie. I knew that once that fire touched the grass, it would be out of control. "You'll set the whole state on fire!" I yelled. With that he reduced it back to its normal size, and walked off to a log about 25 feet away. "Good riddance," Jason spluttered. "He's been nothing but trouble since we left." "Go easy on him, guys," said Nico out of nowhere. He had been resting, with Reyna feeding him ambrosia hourly. "And why should we? He's an insolent, annoying, arrogant _pest!_" At that moment, the weirdest thing ever happened. Shortly after that comment, we heard a rustling sound from the tall grass, and out from it emerged…

"A ghost," according to Nico. But she was unlike any ghost I had ever see. She wasn't even close to transparent. She looked like a real person was standing there, and boy, was she a _knockout_.

She looked about Erik's age, and wore a beautiful black dress. She was quite pale, and had Annabeth's hair; only straighter and a bit longer. She had a very nice figure, and had the nicest teeth I had ever seen. She wore a golden crown. If she wasn't a ghost, I would've guessed she was a goddess of some sort.

"I'm sorry, who's an insolent, annoying, arrogant pest?" she asked in a sing-song voice, with the tiny hint of a Norwegian accent. "That kid," I muttered, pointing back to Erik. She looked where I was pointing, saw Erik, and said with a bird-like laugh, "Oh, no. He's not. He just has some personality issues. He _was_ the only love of my life." At this, Erik turned around, saw her, and his face immediately froze with horror. "No. NO! GO AWAY! _GO AWAY!_" he screamed, running away. He emitted a large cloud, covered himself with it like a coat, and stood in the middle of our campfire. "I will do this again, if I need to!" he yelled at the apparition. "You won't need to, my dear," she said. "I've simply brought someone to speak to you. Well, _he_ wants to speak to _you_." And from the prairie emerged a tall, black-haired, lanky, very young figure, wearing a green and gold coat with a black scarf. He wore heavy-duty hiking boots. "Your grandfather wishes to speak to you." Erik closed his eyes and started to mouth words, possibly a chant of some sort, I couldn't tell, then walked up to the tall man and knelt. "Grandfather Loki." At this, the rest of us were in shock; this is _THE _Loki? The trickster of Norse fame, the brother of Thor and all that? Apparently, yes.

"Oh, my dear grandson," Loki said with a laugh. "You've grown so tall and handsome since I last saw you." "The last time you saw me was when I was born," Erik muttered. "Yes, well, the gods are not exactly the most punctual of parents," said Loki uncomfortably. "Your friends here could probably attest to that." "Amen, brother," said Jason. "Hey, at least you got _raised_ by your godly parent!" "That's because the other half was a dead guy," said Erik in disgust. "Um, well, yeah, about that… uh, no." Erik looked him with a look of heavy suspicion. "What do you mean?" Loki said, "Well, since I have nothing better to do, I thought I might pay a visit to my, well… there's no beating around it. You're my kid. I gave your mother the Aethir to plant in you when I got locked up. I've been keeping an eye on you. Sorry about Hel, she was, well…" the sentence died (no pun intended), and both Norsemen looked at each other with grief. Apparently, they both loved her very much, what ever happened to her. There were way too many questions that I had. "Anyway, kid, I've basically come to claim you in the event of your mom's… _going into hiding_. Best of luck. Oh, and you'll need to visit the top, middle, and bottom," he added cryptically. Erik seemed to understand what he meant and said, "I figured as much. Thank you… Father." He said that last word with a very uncomfortable, almost scared voice. And at that, Loki and the mysterious ghost-girl vanished, and it was the five of us again.

We all turned to look at Erik, who suddenly looked about five years older. "I suddenly have all of these memories I don't remember having. Loki must have hid them from me until he felt it was time." Jason gave a low whistle and said, "I know what _THAT_ feel like." Nico said, "Well, then. I believe you have some explaining to do." "Damn straight, you do!" said Jason. "You might as well tell us the story. We're all wondering, and we're not going to stop wondering." Erik sighed and sat down at the fire with the rest of us.

"I was not born in Helheim," he began. "I was born on Asgard to Loki and Hel, and presented to Odin as a grandchild. Odin blessed me, and said, 'The Norns are with this one. He will do something to either make or break us, but it's too soon to tell.' After leaving Asgard, Loki and my mother went down to Helheim. There, Loki said, 'Dear, I am… being summoned to bondage. I will not be here for his childhood. You'll have to tell him that his father was mortal, and he died. I will give you the Aethir to give to him.' My mother cried, but Loki said, 'I'll see to him eventually, love. I must leave now.' And like that, he was gone."

"I grew up for the first ten years of life in Helheim, being taught by Mom the tricks of my Aethir. I could eventually make it do anything it could do, short of raising the dead and saving the almost-dead. My mother always said that she had them by then."

"Since Norse demigods have trouble with time, we mature physically and mentally very fast. At ten years of age, I was like a seventeen-year old here. At that age, my mother said that she would have to leave me. She assumed her death helm and faded into her palace, where she sits, awaiting Ragnarök. I was told to leave and come to Minnesota." Erik at this point started to cry. He brought himself back and continued with a very shaky voice.

"At the Norse camp, I was an outcast. The other children, although they did not know who either one of my parents was, could sense something was much more different and stayed away from me like I was the plague. Only the camp's guardian, Thor, sympathized with me; he alone knew my true parentage, although Loki had told him never to tell me. He couldn't really do anything about it. I got into a lot of fights, and there were many strange occurrences when I was around- like the presence of a faint mist and fog, and the temperature started to drop. I spent a lot of time alone in the woods surrounding camp, creating beasts with Aethir, just so I had someone to talk to. One awful day, after a particularly awful morning, Hel claimed me as her son. The others, at this point, went from leaving me alone to bullying me. It took all of my power to not hurt them. I just let them do my thing, then went into the woods to talk to my semi-imaginary friends." "That's so sad!" cried Reyna. "You have no idea," he replied.

"After my claiming, there was somebody who wanted to be my friend, this girl about my age. She was a daughter of Freyja, a Vanir, the goddess of love and war, curiously enough. She was alarmingly beautiful, and it was love at almost first sight. Her friends teased her for 'inviting death' or 'playing with death', but she ignored them when they said things like that. We eventually dated for about two months. But then, like everything in my life, everything had to suddenly stop and say, 'Wait, the son of Death is having a happy life. We need to fix that.'

"We were taking a walk around the lake in the evening. We had become very close over that time. Keep in mind that although our 'birth age' was eleven, we were actually around eighteen. We were contemplating getting married after the Norse camp agreed to a truce with the Germans, with whom we had been at war with for years before I got there. The truce came and went, and peace seemed to be a reality. As we were walking hand in hand in the woods one morning, she said, 'You know, we've never kissed.' I looked at her and said, 'Yeah, we have.' 'No, Erik. We haven't kissed like a true couple yet.' I replied, 'Um, okay.' She looked at me at brought her lips to mine."

"At that moment, my brain stopped. This was such an emotional moment that I lost control of everything. Next thing I knew, black Aethir exploded from my body and hit her full-on in the chest. She died instantly. No matter what I tried, the words of Hel came back to me: 'You cannot save the dead, for they are in my realm by then.' I carried her lifeless, beautiful body back to camp, screaming in pain and anger." All of the girls, including me, were crying quite hard by now, Jason was near tears, and Nico stared at the fire, probably thinking about the time he had lost a loved one.

"The entire camp gathered in the central hall, crowded around me as I bore her body to Thor. Everyone backed off. Thor, clearly pained, asked me the simple question: 'How did this happen?' One of the kids, who had been trying to make my life as miserable as possible for the last year as well as trying to take her away from me, took it upon himself to say, 'I bet he killed her. He doesn't know how to love, only how to kill. That's what happens when you get a corpse for a mother.' This kid's abuse at this point had pushed me over the edge. I hit him with a non-lethal blast of Aethir, which knocked him flat on his back. The whole camp backed off by ten feet. As he gasped for air, I stood over him and said, 'The mere sight of you existing dishonors her memory, you vile spawn of Nidhogg.' He stood up and said, 'Ha! And you're the one talking, boy?' He really, _really _didn't know when to shut up. 'You're a good-for-nothing mistake! No wonder your mom-' before he finished that sentence, I roared and cut him off with a very lethal dose of Aethir. He was dead before he hit the ground."

"I ran to my dorm and gathered all of my belongings. I knew that Thor wouldn't order my execution; he knew that I had acted out of pure, unabated anger and was not in a right state. But he _would _have me banished, and so I made up my mind to leave. And so I did."

"In Iowa, my mother came to me in the form of my love. She was as beautiful as ever; but my grief had not yet subsided, and I ordered her to leave and never see me again. I tried to kill myself, but she tackled me and held me down, keeping my Aethir inside me no matter what I willed it to do. When she left, she had left me a staff, this one to be exact; and it helps monitor and control my Aethir outbursts."

"I had seen in the Aethir the adventures of the Argo II." He noted the surprised looks from the rest of us, and said, "I was also the only one at camp who believed that Children of the South (as Romans and Greeks are known) had their own camps, and one of very few who believed that Children of the South even existed at all. We had heard old stories from passing Germans of raiding and pillaging the Romans in the mid-20th century, but nothing after that. I had seen it all, though. I could feel it. If something dies outside of the Norse/Germanic realm, I immediately know; it feels wrong, in a way. It feels as though someone went to Helheim that didn't belong there. So during my episodes in the forest and on the run, I watched you guys with the Aethir. He added, "not _everything_, mind you" after seeing the worried expression on Jason's face. "But enough to get the gist of what happened. Nobody else believed me, of course. They thought I was hallucinating."

"I struggled to live. I regressed my age; by that I mean that I started to look the age I actually was, 11 or so, instead of Jason's age. I had trouble finding food and clean water. My Aethir only helped me provide dry shelter, but not much else. After a particularly uncomfortable day in New York City, it was at that point that I found Camp Half-Blood."

Silence and random coughs were the only noises in the clear night, other than the crickets and fire dying. Nico began, "I think the best thing we could do is to give Erik here some moral support. I'll start." Nico turned to face his cabin mate. "Erik, I like talking with you late at night about the most random things. The tour of the universe you took me on was amazing. Thank you for being such a good friend. I know how you feel, and probably better than you think."

Reyna was next. "Honestly, when I first saw you, I didn't know what to think. Here was a small kid wearing a Viking helmet and holding a book, saying he knew his way around the realm of the dead." She laughed. "I thought you were just another kid of Hades, another introvert for Nico to mope with." "Hey!" yelled Nico, and they both laughed. "But now that I know all of this about you, I will stick with you, thick and thin, to get this mission done."

Jason started, "Dude, you've done things most demigods in the South could only dream of. You grew up with your mother, and you just met your father- both things that almost never happen to us. You were so lucky. I'm sorry all of that happened to you."

That left me. Crap.

"Erik," I started. "It will be alright in the end. I'm not a seer of the future, but I feel that what you've lost will be regained. You've taken way too much for the team, and it's time for the team to take it for you. I know we'll always be here. Do you need a hug? Come give me a hug." And this shivering shell of a boy, once proud but now ruined, gave me the tightest embrace I'd ever felt. It was like he needed love and comfort to survive.

"You know, while we're at it, I have something I want to say to everyone," said Nico. Jason and Reyna looked at him like, _you sure you want to do this? _"So, on our way to the Doors of Death all that time ago, Jason and I got trapped in Diocletian's Palace on the Croatian coast." I remembered vividly. But trapped… by whom? "We were trapped there by Cupid. He beat Jason up rather badly, and none of my skeletons had any effect on him. He just kept beating us up, until eventually he forced me to spill my secret." "Eros is such a douche sometimes," I spat. I hated that guy. "What did he force you to admit?" "When I first came to camp," he began nervously, "I had a crush on Percy. I thought it was a phase, but no, those type of feelings don't really go away. So, here it is: I'm bi. There. I said it." "That took guts," said Erik after about five minutes. "I don't think many could bring themselves to say anything remotely close to that. Props." "Same here," I said. Reyna and Jason gave Nico pats on the back; obviously they already knew.

"I think the real moral is this: it doesn't matter who you are attracted to. If you're alive by the end of the day, we'll love you for it," said Jason. "All you need is love," Reyna sang quietly. We all laughed. "Hey, you guys want to hear a good ol' fashioned Norse fairy tale?" Erik asked. "Oooh, sounds gruesome!" said Jason happily. "Let's go!" "Okay," said Erik, excited. "My favorite one is the story of Idunn's Apples. It goes like this: many years ago, my father, Loki…"

And so it continued into the night, each of us telling Greek, Roman, and Norse myths to pass the night. It was a very happy night, and I felt that things were going to go okay for the grey-haired kid telling the story.

I just felt it.

**So yeah. Super-duper long chapter. Hope you liked it! Review and share please! (10/18)**


	18. Reyna: Burn, Baby, Burn

**I felt like writing this chapter because I'm desperately trying to develop Reyna's character. I felt that Rick sort of left her at the serious-person-with-a-serious-past and didn't really give her a true personality. To the contrary, I feel that I'm sort of giving her a weak one, so I'm attempting to make it stronger. It'll get better, I promise.**

**Reyna: Burn, Baby, Burn**

On our way to the designated 'transit center of the universe' (as Erik so put it) the group played a little Q&A with him. His story was so tragic and so mesmerizing that we just wanted to know more. We asked him questions like: "How many worlds are there in your universe?" (Nine.) "What's Thor like?" (A tad pretentious and a bit of a drinker and eater; but other than that, a pretty decent fellow.) "What _is _this Aethir?" (A primordial substance that he relies on instead of red blood. He can use it to any extent, except raising the dead and saving the near-dead.) "What was your, um, girlfriend's name?" (Pained expression) Brynhild, like the Valkyrie of lore.)

Then somebody asked the question, "What does your mom really look like?"

At that, he turned and concentrated all of his force to the Aethir. A swirling black cloud started to form a shape, and after about five minutes, we had a person. She looked like she was in her thirties, and she was a very noble and important looking woman; she was strong and always had her war helmet and spear. Her hair was black, and her robes were gray. "This is my mother in her true form," he said, with a titch of pride.

We walked for what seemed like forever. It was high noon and we were dog-tired. "Holy Hades, Erik, can't we take a break?" Nico asked. "Hey, we're here!" We stopped and looked around. Nothing but fields for as far as the eye could see. A farm was out in the distance. The sound of crows cawing and cows mooing were the first. Then, all of a sudden, in the middle of absolutely nowhere, Erik started yelling, "HEY HEIMDALL! MIND LETTING DOWN BIFROST?" Silence. Then, a voice from the sky: "YEAH, SURE. I GOT YOU COVERED!" Inexplicably, a _freaking rainbow bridge appeared out of the freaking sky_. I could not emphasize that enough. Erik said, "Come on, you guys. Let's go visit my universe." We walked on this rainbow bridge as we climbed into the sky.

When we were above Earth in what appeared to be outer space, we walked into a enormous domed room that reminded me of an old train station. There stood a tall man with a helmet with rather ornate decorations, golden armor, a rather nice sword, and a magnificent hunting horn. "Ah, I recognize you two!" he exclaimed, pointing at Jason and Piper. "You're the Children of the South!" "Nice to see you again, Heimdall," beamed Jason. "Ah, Erik. Brought more friends along? Where will your destination be today? Home?" "Actually, yes." "Well," said Heimdall, checking a pocketwatch, "the #9 is running a tad late today. It'll be a few. Ticket booth #9, of course." "Thanks, Heimdall," replied Erik, and we walked through the deserted station to a small ticket booth. Erik said, "Let's go with five Yggdrasil passes today, Lois," to an elderly woman behind the counter. "I'm a resident." With the raise of an eyebrow (but no questions), she handed us five small rectangular boarding passes. "This will cover us just fine today," Erik said. "They've drastically improved the transit here. Lot more accessible." As we sat there waiting, I couldn't help but think on the strangeness of the situation. Here we were, two Greeks, two Romans, and a Norseman sitting in a deserted train station after walking up a rainbow bridge, waiting for a train to the Norse Underworld. Not something that happened every day. At long last, we heard a train whistle. "Ah, thank the gods!" exclaimed Piper. We boarded the train, and we were on our way.

On the way down, I kept thinking about the direction my life was taking. I had a wonderful boyfriend, good friends, a good job, and here I was, helping to save the world. But why did I feel that something was not quite right, like a wrong had not been amended? I didn't want or need more; I was perfectly happy. But there was a nagging feeling in my gut: _Something's wrong. Someone has been wronged_. And I couldn't put my finger on it, which really frustrated me.

But learning to 'go with it' was something that I was learning slowly; Romans aren't exactly known for their abilities to go with the flow.

As the train came to a stop and the doors opened, I was suddenly regretting my clothing choices for the day. On Earth, it was about 80 degrees when we left; Helheim was about 40. Only our little tour guide didn't seem affected, but _go figure_, he was raised here. It seemed eternally foggy, and uncomfortably damp, like we were inside a living animal of some sort.

Dragging us along, shivering and snivelling, we approached the edge of the fog. "Now, no natural light comes through here," Erik said. "This is Nastrond. I believe that Nico is familiar with this. I will warn you now: Don't look up." As we breached the fog, Erik produced a light for us to see in this cavern. The whole place illuminated with an unnatural light. And the sight made me throw up.

BLARGH.

Erik looked back, then turned around again as if this was a regular occurrence.

On both sides of the river, there were literally mountains of rotting corpses. The whole place smelled fetid and ungodly. We wove around the monstrous piles of bodies to the edge of the river, which was filled with, well, knives.

"This river is what the really bad people have to swim through to get to our Little Shop of Horrors on the other side there," he said. I was amazed he could crack jokes about eternal damnation; then again, I was learning not to take this kid for granted. "It's filled with blades used in the above-worlds for murder, betrayal, adultery, and other cold-blooded acts. They get all cut up and bruised, then they get trapped in the web of roots over there. After that, snakes come and drip poison all over their cuts, and every once in a while, Nidhogg comes along, eats a few corpses, then leaves. If that happens, you have to start on the other side of the river and go through the whole process again." Nico said, "This beats the Fields of Punishment any day." "Erik," said Piper worriedly, "What, or who, is Nidhogg?" Erik looked up and pointed at the tree roots. "That."

I screamed.

There was a very, very, VERY large dragon, crawling through the web of roots, snatching up bodies. After he had his fill, he went back over and started gnawing on the biggest taproot I'd ever seen, and I'd pulled some very large weeds from New Rome's sidewalks before.

The scream caught his attention. _Oh shit._

He roared, and Erik said, "Aw, shut up, you big lizard," and with a quick blast of Aethir, he knocked out the dragon. "That should buy us some time," he said nonchalantly. He produced a large bag with Aethir, and started grabbing swords out of the river. "If any of you touched these, you'd die immediately," he warned. "I'm going to get some things to fix that problem." After he had retrieved about five or six decent sized swords and daggers, we left Nastrond. _I hope to never see that place again._

We managed to grab the train out just as it was leaving. Next stop? Well, that question was answered pretty darn quickly. "The train is now approaching Niflheim station," said a cheery female voice. It then spoke it in Old Norse, Norwegian, and German. The train station had some parkas hanging on hangers. We each grabbed one, as well as heavy hats and gloves. "Gods, man," said Jason. "Is all of this really necessary?" "Unless you want to freeze to death in a second, yes," he replied. When we walked out of the station, I immediately understood what he meant.

The landscape was as if Alaska didn't have an atmosphere. It was a blue and white world, with massive glaciers and icebergs sitting in crystalline seas, all under a transparent sky; I felt like I could _touch_ outer space. "We're looking for the spring of Hvergelmir," Erik said. "The primeval source of all water in the universe. It's somewhere between Niflheim and Helheim, so it's back there a bit." We walked through the frozen wasteland until we came to a small cave, and in it was a lake of the purest water I'd ever seen. Erik carefully lowered a special container into the water and filled it up; he did this with six such containers. He placed them in a special bag. "This water will be perfect, if my assumptions are correct." We boarded the train and took off for the next destination. "You guys are perfectly dressed for the next place," said Erik. Nico looked as though he understood, and I remembered from his speech earlier, I did not exactly support the idea of going to-

"Muspelheim Station," said the bright, cheery voice again.

Good. Gods.

If Niflheim was Alaska, Muspelheim was the inside of a volcano. Or South Carolina.

Erik quickly filled his containers with hot, burning lava, then secured his containers and we were gone before you knew it. "It's best not to stick around _too_ long in Muspelheim," Erik warned. "There are much more evil and ancient forces there than in my realm." Gods forbid what kind of beings those were.

We were on our way home… or so I thought. "Aw, shit," swore Erik. I had never heard him swear before; it was kinda cute in a way. "We forgot Svartálfaheim." He sighed, then said, "We need to catch the next train there. If we don't get there, my plan will be for naught."

After experiencing the most harrowing train ride of my existence, we arrived in Svartálfaheim. It was pretty bleak; no color to speak of, except black and red. "You don't stay around here unless you really have to. And we really have to." He lead us to a cave in the side of a mountain, then knocked on the door.

A dwarf answered. The following conversation was carried in discreteness and confidentiality: "May I help you, master Erik?" "Yeah. We need Gleipnir." The old dwarf's face seemed to age at this name. "I might have a little left. Will it count as repayment of my debt?" "Of course, old friend." The dwarf produced a roll of silken string. It didn't look like much, and I was wondering why Erik took us all the way out here to fetch it. With a polite bow, the two left and we were _finally _going home.

We pulled into Midgard Station. "Hey, wait a minute," said Jason. "This is Grand Central!" All of a sudden, we were being tugged by an invisible force, and we were suddenly in front of Heimdall. "Ah, Erik. You forgot about customs." "Crap. Sorry, Heimdall." "Do you have any magical substances to declare?" Erik produced the fruits of our travels. "Six jars of Muspelheim fire, six jars of Niflheim water from Hvergelmir, and six blades from Nastrond in Helheim." Heimdall seemed to pale at the stuff that Erik was trying to sneak out. "I'll let you through, Erik, but only because I trust that you know what you're doing," he said cautiously. He let us down Bifrost, and we were back on Earth, albeit in a very different location.

It was definitely cooler. It was more alive, too. The grass was greener. The field we were standing in was enormous. As was the low-walled fortress that we happened to be standing in front of.

"Welcome," said Erik, though in a very nervous tone, "to the Norse camp."

**As usual, review, follow, fave, share- whatever it takes! (10/19)**


	19. Annabeth: Leo Valdez Falls From the Sky

**Annabeth: Leo Valdez Falls From the Sky**

The days following Siegmund's departure marked a turning point in the history of the camp. No longer would a kid be in charge; but rather, Siegfried. He now had an iron fist clenched over the entire camp, and we had to be very careful. I suddenly realized that we went from living in a military-oriented society to living in a police state. I can now say (with confidence) that living in a dictatorship is positively miserable.

After remembering that my mother was Athena, Siegfried had made me the next Supreme Commander whatever-thing. He said that our next objective was to march on the Norse camp and burn it to the ground, killing all who got in our way, friend or foe. He went on the idea that since we had 7 times more people than they did, we could lose a lot of warriors and still win. Not only did I disagree with this barbaric calculus, but thought that that strategy was flawed. He was taking into account that the Norsemen were small and weak. But from the stories I'd heard about Vikings, I found that idea about as easy to believe as Nico getting a girlfriend.

Percy, as my significant other, was allowed to reside with me in the sumptuous castle, where it was like Germany was having an eternal Throwback Thursday. Old Prussian and Bavarian flags of all sorts lined the wide halls, and paintings of various heads of state were everywhere. It was stuck in historical neutral, something that I felt was being done artificially.

Once we settled into the Royal Apartment Suite (it _sounded_ regally stuffy), Percy made the joke that _finally _an Athena kid had been put in charge of a major military operation, only to be leading an army I didn't want to lead to accomplish a mission I thought was not only barbaric but deliberately destructive to the fragile nature of things up here. I began regretting everything that led me to this quest.

That evening, though, we were relaxing and cuddling and (you know, I think I'll just stop there) when all of a sudden… CRASH. BOOM. "AW, MY #&$-ING HEAD!"

When we ran outside, we noticed a particular Latino boy that we had not seen in a year lying in a heap on the forest floor.

"LEO!" Percy screamed, and heaved the boy up and nearly broke his ribs in a big bear hug. "Oh, gods, my head!" moaned Leo. "I didn't mean to fall from the sky!" Percy carried him inside and laid him down on the bed. Leo looked like he'd had one heck of a night. "Why did it have to drop me out of the sky?" he complained. "Who, or what, dropped you out of the sky?" I asked, concerned. He might have a minor concussion. "My bleedin' transporter, that's what," "It got the location right, just not the altitude." He then promptly passed out. "Wait, Leo. You have a transporter? How are you doing? What are you doing here?" No response. "Poor kid," said Percy. Probably some of the first living people he's seen in a year, and he passes out.

About an hour later, he came to and sat straight up. "What- WHERE the hell am I?" he demanded. "Woah, Leo, let's calm down," I said. "Let's get you something to drink. I opened up the fridge, which was loaded with (quite literally) everything. I got him something with caffeine, since that stuff got him going.

"You're with Annabeth and I," said Percy gently. "I knew that," he said irritably. Then he paled. "Oh gods. Calyp-" he stopped himself. "What about Calypso?" I asked. "She's going to be wondering where I am." He noticed the puzzled looks on our faces, then added, "We're living together." Percy raised an eyebrow, but asked no questions. I said, "Okay, let's start with this. What are you doing here?" Leo rubbed his head, then responded, "To give you an update on the other half." "What other half? Leo, tell us. We need to know." "There was another prophecy- not a Great one, mind you, but just a prophecy. It said that nine demigods must prevent a war between two camps in the North. Those two camps would be this one and the Norse one. One party of five has arrived there, and they will begin preparing to defend their keep. It's a large fort, but is rather poor defensively. There are only 50 demigods there, ranging from 8 years to 16. Annabeth, if the Germans attack, it will be a slaughter. And worse, if one camp does defeat the other, it will unleash the Norse apocalypse. So, basically you need to do whatever it is possible to prevent any blood from being shed, or else the world will end. Bye." And with that, he simply vanished into thin air.

I will never understand Leo Valdez.

Percy and I looked at each other. We understood what we needed to do.

So when Siegfried had the camp in armor two days later, ready to send 750 kids off to war in Minnesota, we knew exactly what we were going to do.

Now, we just needed to pray that it would work.

**Poor Annabeth. (10/20)**


	20. Frank: The Sixth Cohort

**This is actually crucial to understanding what comes later. It may seems short and unnecessary, but I assure you, this will make sense. Also, gives you an idea what they're up against.**

**Frank: The Sixth Cohort**

The Iris messages from Camp Half-Blood weren't getting anymore positive. With Reyna absent, I had to lead a panicking legion to go save the world.

The numbers from Chiron about the potential belligerents were alarming: the Germans had 750 well-trained warriors in a strict military environment that made Rome's look like day-care. They were advancing against a Norse camp of 50 demigods, almost a fifth of whom were under ten years of age. Camp Half-Blood could provide, at maximum, 75 soldiers. That left the Roman legion, which had about 125. The three camps put together, at absolute maximum fighting force, would only be equal to half of the German army. And the Germans were halfway to Minnesota.

I had just finished reading Lord of the Rings (nerd that I am), and I suddenly knew how the Men of Rohan must have felt at Helm's Deep.

I turned to desperate measures. I spent many hours that I should have been resting trying to pull some strings. Hazel started to worry (then again, she ALWAYS worries), and said that maybe I was approaching this too head-on. She suggested reaching out to New Rome proper, offering volunteer positions in a Sixth Cohort.

She really is pretty damn smart. Well, pretty, and damn smart.

So I acted on her advice and opened up spots for a Sixth Cohort, for volunteers and the Greeks (when they arrived). After two hasty days of training, I looked upon the new cohort with a combination of pride and disappointment. It was comprised almost entirely of the Greek forces and older volunteers from the City, looking to relive their glory days when they actually fought the barbarian threat. Hazel spoke what I was thinking. "It's not enough," she said sadly. The new addition brought the Southern camp numbers to a total of 225. Even with the Norse, it would still pale in comparison to the other camp.

What else to do then give a speech before the inevitable?

"Children of the South!" I began.

Not bad.

"We are gathered here today to arm ourselves against the threat of Germania, which at this moment, is advancing to destroy the camp of the Norsemen." Loud boos, especially from Sixth Cohort. "As your praetor, I feel it is my responsibility to give you the latest status update. The German army has reached the Minnesota-South Dakota border. Our team of five has reached the Norse camp, but no word from them yet."

"It will be the forces of Rome and Greece allied with those of the Norse. Together, we will have to fend off 750 barbarians from ransacking the fort and starting the Norse apocalypse, Ragnarök."

"I'm really damn proud of you guys." I smiled, and decided to quote from the book I had just finished. "If this is indeed our end, then we shall make it such an end as to be worthy of remembrance."

"Chiron will arrange for troop transport to northern Minnesota. We will set up base camp, then we will march south to the Norse camp."

"Fight the barbarian! The Greek and the Norseman are our allies! To war!" And with a loud cheer, we left for Minnesota. I had the feeling that a lot wouldn't be returning.

**So, yeah. Two short chapters today. I've been busy. Don't worry though; updates daily. (10/20)**


	21. Piper: The Norse Camp and a Big Bad Wolf

**Piper: The Norse Camp and the Big Bad Wolf**

We walked into the Norse camp with a sense of foreboding. After all, we were going to be fighting an exorbitant amount of Germans in a few days. The whole camp seemed shrouded in a cloud of doom, like a storm was coming that no amount of godly interference could stop, or even restrain a little. It looked very sparse. "So, uh, what do we do now?" Jason asked. "We go petition Thor with our request, and pray he's in a good mood," said the Heir of Death. He said it with such a dry cynicism that only Nico found it remotely humorous.

As we walked through, kids stopped and stared. But they weren't staring at the Southern kids.

They were staring at Erik, and for good reason. If a kid who went into self-imposed exile for murder and manslaughter suddenly returned, how would you react?

They made way for him, as if he were some kind of king. We marched up to what appeared to be the Great Hall, and entered. Upon entrance, I saw him.

Thor. The god of thunder and the protector of Midgard itself. I nearly fainted.

He looked quite different from my expectations. Instead of shining golden armor and blond hair, this guy had simple steel armor and long red hair, and some scruffy red facial hair. But what caught my attention was the hammer. Holy Hephaestus, was that hammer impressive. Jason nearly passed out at the sight of it; this was the equivalent of Zeus' lightning bolt.

Thor eyed us with suspicion, but looked at Erik with an expression of pity and love. He was, after all, Erik's uncle, the only one (other than us) who knew his true parentage. Erik knelt, and, as we were well accustomed to respecting gods, so did we. "Hmm," Thor wondered aloud. "Acknowledged, demigods," and we stood up at attention. "And I believe you have some explaining to do," he said to Erik with a knowing expression. "When I left the North, I wandered south. There, I confirmed the old rumors that the Children of the South indeed exist, and that they have their own camps." Murmurs moved rapidly through the crowd until Thor silently brought them to attention again. "May I introduce our guests? These are the Greek demigods Piper and Nico, daughter of Aphrodite and son of Hades, respectfully; and the Romans, Reyna and Jason, daughter of Bellona and son of Jupiter." Thor looked at us curiously. "So it _is _true? The old oracle was right. Have you come to help save us from the ruin of the Germans?" "With all due respect, my lord," Reyna started, "The plan was Erik, Nico, and I. Since we represent all three allied camps, we thought that might be the best solution." Thor pondered this for a few minutes, then said, "You'll have to make your case before the Thing," he said. "They are the lawful voice of the camp. I only approve their decisions." Erik said, "That sounds great. Let's get started."

We followed Erik towards a small chamber room. It looked like a small rehearsal space for a choir, but it was very ornate and decorated, showing famous scenes from Norse tales, of the hero Sigurd and of the god Baldr. In it was a semicircle of 10 fancy chairs, and in the center was a golden throne, high and mighty. It sure carried a lot of power. "Who sits there?" I asked Erik. "Thor does," he responded. "We haven't had a true successor in centuries; the closest thing is the Royal Line of Norway, and it, along with other royal families, has been merged into those of other nations through marriage and conquest. That throne there, Piper, is for the true Monarch of Midgard, the Ruler of the Norsemen and all those allied to them. Since Thor is the Protector of Midgard, he's assumed double duty until we find a true replacement." After we had taken our spots before the council, the members and Thor walked into the chamber in full tuxedos and dresses. "Since we don't have a royalty, we have to impose some sort of dress code," Erik told me out of the corner of his mouth. Thor began, "Is the council completely seated? Good. The Thing is now in session." The room was dimmed, and a fire in the center of the room was lit.

One of the members said, "For the people presenting, please record your name, parentage, and place of birth for council records." Erik stood up and said, "My name is Erik, son of the goddess Hel, and place of birth is Asgard." Whisperings passed through the council. The spokesman hushed them. "And the other two?" "I'm Piper, daughter of the goddess Aphrodite and the mortal Tristan McLean, place of birth, California," I found myself saying. I felt like I was in court. Likewise, everyone went:

"Reyna, daughter of the goddess Bellona and the mortal Julian Ramirez-Arellano, place of birth is Puerto Rico."

"Jason, son of the god Jupiter and the mortal Beryl Grace, place of birth is California."

"Nico, son of the god Hades and the mortal Maria di Angelo, place of birth is Italy."

"Thank you, and you may be seated." We sat. I really liked the professionalism here; it was like the Roman senate, only it didn't feel so… threatening. "Petitioner, state your case before the council."

Erik rose and addressed the Thing: "Fellow Norsemen, I have returned to present you our delivery from Ragnarök. I always said there were Children of the South, and when I wandered in my self-imposed exile, I found the Greek half, near New York City. A day later, they held council with the Roman Senate, so I know there's a Roman camp somewhere. Both camps are in alliance now, although they were on the verge of war a year or two ago. Also, they have both agreed to assist our camp in any way possible in the face of the German threat. The last I heard from them, they were on their way here." "Why did you take it upon yourself to act as emissary for us, without a council or even a request?" inquired another councilmember. "It wasn't like I was expecting to find them," Erik said. "I also had a vision on my way there. I saw them in war against the forces of Earth, at about the same time that the Germans started arming against us. I think that this war is far from over. The South's Earth goddess is still planting seeds of discord in the North, for she knows that if we go to war, the results will be catastrophic." "But you were exiled! You had no right to do that!" spat another person. "If I may," interjected Thor. Everyone stopped. "I would like to point out to the Thing that my nephew here went into _self-imposed _exile. He was not forced to by me nor any other person of power. I wouldn't have exiled him, anyways. He was not of sound mind or body when the actions took place." He gestured at Erik. "Please, do continue." "Yes, anyway," Erik started again. "I believe that a military council of Reyna, Nico, and I would be the best possible option during our conflict. We represent each of the three camps, and we all have extensive experience in battle." "Hmm. I find that logical," said the leader of the council. "It would make the most sense. You all have different strategies and ideas, and represent the best interests of your respective homes." The other councilmembers agreed and Thor quickly approved that decision.

"I do, however, have questions about these two." He pointed to Jason and I. "What purpose do they serve here?" "They will be extraordinarily helpful in the coming times," said Erik. "I can vouch for them." "Regardless," the leader continued, "If they are not of direct military use in this venture, I require a quest of them to prove faithfulness to the cause. It doesn't have to be a big one, but Erik has to order it and accompany you." Great. Another quest. "If I may, can I stay here with my compatriots and plan for the upcoming battle?" inquired Erik. After a small deliberation, they agreed to. "This hearing of the Thing is now adjourned. Godspeed to all."

"So, what's the quest?" I asked once we had all left the room into the blazing sunlight. "Gah!" winced Jason. "Is the sun trying to blind me?!" "No, it was just dark where we were," said Erik. "As for your quest, it's going to be darker outside." He smiled coldly, then pulled them aside. "I'll meet you guys later," he called to Reyna and Nico. "Ask directions to the War Room. And don't fool around, you two." He grinned at them, and they saluted back. He turned to face us. "Follow me."

We went into the Great Hall, which had been cleared out by now. He led us to a table in the corner, where some very old books lay. He grabbed one, flipped the pages, and pointed to a picture of a monstrous wolf. And I mean this thing was the size of a dragon. "This is my half-brother, Fenrir," he said. "He is one of the beasts that will destroy the world during the End Times. He is very wary of anybody connected to the gods; if you mention that I sent you, he will let up a little. You also have to offer him something. He really likes the oxen in the field, but he can't reach them. If you don't give him an offering, he will demand you stick your arm in his mouth; if he feels like he's been tricked, he'll bite your hand off." "Offer him oxen. Check. Where is he?" asked Jason. "That's the tricky part," said Erik. "I feel that he's on Asgard. Go to Asgard and ask around. Better yet: ask Heimdall."

"What are we supposed to ask Fenrir?"

Erik thought. "Hm. He knows a bit about Ragnarök, since that's where he makes his main appearance. Ask him some questions about the Germans, or useful tips. If he knows for a fact that you're with me, then he shouldn't be any trouble at all."

He summoned Bifrost to the amazement of the campers who happened to be around. I looked at my boyfriend and said, "Here goes something." We ascended into the clouds, leaving Midgard.

We were in front of Heimdall yet again. He seemed as surprised to see us as we were to see him- which is to say, not at all.

"Ah, Jason and Piper!" he said with a smile. "How can I help you?" "Heimdall," I said gravely, "We're on a mission for Erik." Heimdall looked concerned and asked, "What has Death's Little Angel got you doing this time?" With just a small veneer of charmspeak, I said, "Heimdall, we need to go to Fenrir the wolf." He looked like he might faint. "Oh, sweet flowers of Frigg!" he wailed. "Fenrir, Odin's Bane?" "The one and only," Jason said. "It's a very important quest." "Must be, if Erik is sending you to his brother," Heimdall said. "He and Erik get along okay, but make sure you gain Fenrir's trust before anything else." "Thanks for the tip," I said, and we were gone in a swirling blur of light and night sky.

When we landed, I was sure we were no longer in Yggdrasil. _Impossible_, I thought. _Yggdrasil is the entire universe! _We were on a small island in the midst of a pure black lake, and both of our senses screamed, _Get out of here! Now! _But we had a mission to accomplish.

We wandered into a vast clearing near the shore, and there, lying on the grass taking a nap, was the most monstrous wolf I'd ever seen. He was twice as big as the _Argo II_. He fur was pure black and looked soft, and his teeth were snow white. His snoring shook the nearby trees. Jason tiptoed up to the wolf's ear, and whispered, "Fenrir? We need to speak with you." I gotta give my boyfriend some credit for having the nards to do that, because what happened next scared the crap out of us.

The wolf shot straight up. He was as tall as the Acropolis, and I know from experience. He was (beautifully, I might add) muscular and powerful-looking. He looked like he could destroy a few countries without a problem. I was having a problem though with these thoughts; was Aphrodite at work? _Trying to get me attracted to this animal? Gross!_

Then he spoke. His voice was like chocolate; it was a solid baritone voice with the silkiness and smoothness of a lover… or a con artist. If he was a person, I would swear it was charmspeak. _Oh, gods… I was starting to lust for him! Yuck!_

"What are you doing here, little heroes?" he asked. "This lake and island are not rooted to any world, or even Yggdrasil, so you could not have gotten lost. That means you would have had to come looking for me. But why? Don't you know my reputation?" He smiled with those huge, glistening white fangs that honestly scared me to death.

"We were sent here on a quest by your half-brother, Erik," said Jason nervously. I nudged him onward. He continued, albeit shaking. "We need to ask you a few questions."

Fenrir laughed a deep, booming laugh. "Oh, Erik. He's a cute little guy. I quite like him. Okay, if you really are with him and need to ask questions, I require an offering." "We'll get you some of those oxen you like," I offered, with a tinge of disgust. Being a vegetarian, I really hated offering any animal up for food. "I sense your feelings, warrior-maiden," said Fenrir. "I assure you, these oxen have no point in being here other than to feed me." He laughed again.

Ten minutes later, we returned with ten oxen. "Ooh, thank you! I haven't eaten in ages!" he said as he grabbed an ox with one motion and, with a swift flash of fangs, he ate it whole. As he smiled again, his teeth dripped red. "Now, what's your business here?" he asked as he continued to eat the oxen. "Um, well, the Norse demigod camp is under attack," I said timidly. Fenrir shot up and stared at us with black eyes that had images of terror and apocalyptic end swirling in them. "So it begins," he said with glee. "I'm sorry, Fenrir. What's beginning?" Jason asked. "The wars," he said. "The Beginning of the End. Man shall drive themselves into extinction, setting the stage for Ragnarök, my moment of glory!" He cackled with glee. "Why should I help stop it?" I started thinking, _Could I charmspeak a beast this large? No, _I thought. _We'll try diplomacy first. _"Because you won't be able to relax and eat oxen anymore," I tried. "You'll have your moment, then you'll be ripped in half by Odin's sons!" "Hmm, I'll hear you out. Ask me more, then I'll make my decision." Thank the gods for Erik lecturing us on Norse legends.

"What is the Germans' weak spot?" Jason started. Fenrir replied, "The Germans may look like a killer fighting force, but the soldiers are really committed to the two kids in charge, not Siegfried. Tell Erik to single out the guy leading the army. Bind him, then negotiate for a truce. If no agreement, do battle."

"What should the forces from the South do?" I asked. "Have the 5 main Roman cohorts join the Norse army, then send the sixth cohort inside the keep." _A sixth cohort? _I wondered. Jason was as confused as I was.

"When will Erik be happy?" I asked. That made Fenrir stop eating his food and look at me in frustration. "I… don't know, child of Love. It frustrates me, too. He came to me, you know. Shortly after he ran away. I'm his brother, but I'm also like his best friend. He talked to me, spilled everything. I listened. I'll admit, I've never felt so strongly for anyone else before." He looked like he was about to cry. But he shook himself out of it and said, "I have the feeling someone's waiting for him at camp, and that's the best I can offer."

"Thanks, Fenrir. We'll vouch for you on Midgard." He thanked us for the food and our time, and said he was glad to help. We left that bleak island, knowing we had made a powerful ally.

When we got back to camp, everyone seemed to be in a rush somewhere. "Woah, what's going on?" Jason asked a young camper. "Dude, you need to come now," he said. "Erik and Thor were leading us in our prayers when she walked in." My heart did a dive. "Who?"

"Her," he said, still in shock. "Brynhild, his girlfriend. She's back from the dead!"

**And another super long chapter. Fenrir is actually a bit of an asshole in the myths, so I decided to make him a good guy. As for Brynhild... well, you'll just have to follow/fave to find out next, won't you? ;) Love you guys. (10/21)**


	22. Reyna: The Beginning of the End

**Reyna: The Beginning of the End**

It was easily the most nervewracking day in the history of demigods.

The whole camp was in the Great Hall area. Thor and Erik were going to lead in prayers to the gods before war started upon us. Just as the prayers finished, we heard the doors of the Hall creak open. Since it was quiet for prayer, everyone turned and looked at who was entering. The person left just as everyone looked back, apparently not wanting to draw so much attention to themselves. Then the doors flung open, and in walked that ghost we had seen earlier.

Only, this time she was real.

Very real.

A loud collective gasp from the audience rose as she ran forward and jumped into an astonished Erik's arms. They looked at each other for all of three seconds before engaging in a passionate kiss. The entire camp roared and cheered in approval, and the four of us shared a look with him that said: "I now have something worth living for."

She was gorgeous. She was not curvy in any way; she was as tall as he was, quite skinny, and radiated positive energy. She was in full battle armor, her long blond hair flowing from beneath her helmet, ready to fight alongside the only person she ever loved. And he was ready, too.

We all went outside into the open area in the middle of camp. Everybody was suddenly in a better mood. As we were running around, gathering armor and weapons, we heard it. It sounded like a drum, far-off.

_Boom._

Everyone stopped what they were doing.

_Boom. _

_Boom. _

_Boom. _

_Boom. _

Then, trumpets blared to life from the fields.

They were getting closer. When we could start hearing individual footsteps, I ran up to the fort walls with Erik and a couple of spotters to see who it was.

Coming in from the north was a large army of about 300. They were marching in perfect unison and step. And flying above them was a large purple flag. "TWELFTH LEGION FULMINATA!" bellowed the kid at the head of the force. A loud cheer sounded from the advancing soldiers.

"The Romans! The Children of the South have arrived!" yelled one of the watchmen. The whole camp erupted into cheers. "We're saved! We're saved!" was the outcry of the destitute and undermanned camp. But the three of us knew better. This would be a significant help, but it was still vastly smaller than the German army. Still, it was lifting to the spirits of everyone. This was an all-in effort. This was a do-or-die moment for the world.

As they got closer, I could make out who was leading it: Frank. He was bellowing orders in Latin, keeping the legion together. But there was something different. Either one cohort got very large very fast, or…

There was a sixth cohort. _Frank, you're a genius_, I thought. The sixth appeared to be made up of Camp Half-Blood's forces and volunteers from New Rome.

In. Genious.

As they marched into the camp, we raised the Roman flag underneath the Norwegian one. Rome and the Old Norse camp were now united as allies. Nico, Erik, and I stood to greet them. Frank stood at attention with the rest of his troops and Chiron, who was there to assist the Greeks. He then leapt forward, and gave us literal bear hugs. "My troops are at your disposal," he announced. Then he told the soldiers: "These are your military commanders. I simply relay the messages from them to you. You adhere to their field instruction, is that clear?" With a response in the affirmative, we briefed them.

"Frank, lead the Roman legionnaires to the field to set up camp," I said. "We'll take the Greeks here." "All right," he said. "Romans, follow!" Chiron and the Greeks stayed. "We need you to help prepare the Norse for battle. Assemble armor and weapons, and make sure every demigod able to fight properly is correctly suited up. After you're done, go set up in a camp adjacent to the Romans," ordered Nico. Chiron nodded and said, "Can I get some to help out? Where's the armory?" "Back there," said Erik, pointing to a small, low building.

As the Greeks went off to help, Erik smiled at Nico and I. He said, "I have a plan. A secret one, but a plan nonetheless. Remember all that stuff we got from our little trip?" We both nodded. "I'm going to go to the smith. Cover the door. If anybody wants in, tell them it's sealed off on orders." He carried that bag with him into the forge, and we did as told and guarded the door. We heard banging, metal on metal, bursts of flame and the _whoosh_ of cooling it. Then, strangest of all, we heard an almost demonic chanting. After about an hour, he emerged with six swords and daggers that were as black as Nico's sword, only I had a sneaking suspicion that these packed more of a kick. He also had a black staff identical to his own. He gave the weapons to the five of us, as well as Brynhild. He then gave Nico the staff. "This is a staff exactly like mine," grinned Erik. "I feel that the two of us have a significant part to play here. Let me share with you my idea." He pulled Nico aside for about five minutes. They both looked grim, but had that "It needs to be done" sort of look I had grown to hate. I didn't like being left out of the loop, especially when my boyfriend is discussing a secret plan with a very, very powerful demigod. Before I could ask any questions though, we heard that drum again.

_Boom. _

_Boom. _

_Boom. _

_Boom. _

A cacophony of hunting horns and the sounds of marching soldiers.

The Romans were already here, that meant only one thing.

The Germans had arrived., and the war was about to begin. The war that would signal the End of Days. I did what someone in my position would do.

I prayed to Bellona, then started to cry.

**And shit's about to get very, very, very real. Stick around! Fave and follow! Share! Whatever! (10/22)**


	23. Nico: The War Takes a Nasty Turn

**Nico: The War Takes a Nasty Turn**

Reyna and I held each other.

The thundering of the German army's footsteps reverberated could be throughout the entire area. We quickly mustered the Romans and Greeks to the fort, and hastily had them form ranks with the Norsemen. Erik had chosen to put the more powerful ones, as well as the Greeks, further back, intending to keep them in the fort; he figured that if we started to lose ground, the toughest could hold it. There were hushed murmurs and whispers running through the ranks. Frank and Chiron stood at the head, ready to advance. Reyna was going, too; and we had a "just in case" moment.

And that's when we had our first actual romantic situation. Right there, on the wall of a fort about to be sieged by 750 angry Germans. After a tight embrace, we kissed. It was considered to be our first actual kiss. I'll never forget it.

She joined them, and yelled in Latin, "Romans, Greeks, and Norsemen, advance!" Chiron and Erik translated it into Greek and Old Norse, the form locked, and started to march forward. Erik and I stood atop and watched them move out into the blood-red sunset, ready to face the barbarian. We both prayed; to Elysium first, then to Valhal.

He looked at me, and asked, "You ready for this?" He was talking about our secret plan. "As ready as I'll ever be," I said nervously. He nodded grimly. He pulled out pure black armor and helmets. He said these were funerary uniforms, meant for the presider of funerals. It would have the desired effect. Now we just stood there with our armor and staffs; I had my sword, and he produced a long blade, one of the ones he took from Helheim. We surveyed the battlefield.

The two armies established a no-man's land that roughly corresponded with a small river that flowed through the field. They were very different looking militaries. The Germans were wearing golden armor and helms, with broad shields and long swords. A blue-and-white flag flew as their battle standard; Erik told me (distastefully) that that was the old standard of Bavaria.

Our army was a lot more… rustic. The uniforms were more Roman in taste, and the weapons not as shiny. Our standard was a strange-looking flag. It was stripes of purple and orange (symbolizing Camps Jupiter and Half-Blood) going diagonally, with stripes of red and blue (the colors of Norway) going horizontally and vertically, all on a white background. We seemed a lot less trained, and a lot more nervous. We fidgeted a lot, while they stayed perfectly motionless.

Then, they attacked.

750 screaming Germans met almost 300 Norsemen, Romans, and Greeks. All we could do now was pray. Unless you're Erik, that is. He took matters into his own hands shortly after the Germans easily routed our force within a couple of hours and started bearing down on the keep.

He yelled, "Halt!" They still kept fighting.

He nodded to me and said, "It is time." We took out our swords and bound them to our staff with the Glaupnir we had gotten from the dwarves. "One. Two. Three." We ran down to the fort entrance, where a couple of mad Germans were ready to attack. "I said HALT!" bellowed Erik.

All went silent. The camps remassed. Surprisingly, we had done quite a bit of damage to them, and we had lost not very many at all.

The Germans advanced again. With a quick nod, we slammed our staffs end-first into the ground.

The earth seemed to roar underneath us. Everything went quiet again. The ground went black and died. With my staff, my powers didn't sap me so much. I summoned a couple dozen skeleton warriors with no problem. Erik, along with creating a force field the Germans couldn't cross, raised his staff to the sky and bellowed to the heavens.

A loud howl sounded, and when I looked behind me, a massive wolf, the size of a pickup truck, was bounding out of the heavens, with Jason and Piper on his back. "Fenrir!" I yelled. "Hello, Children of the South!" he boomed to our army. "Are these the insolent Teutons bothering you?" He snarled at the German army, and I'll wager my sword that half that army wet their armor at that moment. They didn't budge.

Erik whispered to me, "Is that the guy?" I nodded. He was pointing to the huge, burly guy leading the German side. Jason and Piper had said that Fenrir suggested binding him and holding him prisoner; the two kids in charge were more likely to avert a conflict. With a solemn look, he shot threads of Aethir across the field, and it quickly tied and gagged the guy; Erik then disappeared him to the holding cell, right off the battlefield. Immediately, loud conversation ran rampant through the ranks before the respective leaders silenced them. Finally, one of the kid commanders of the Germans stepped forward to address her troops. Yes, it was a girl. Must've been one hell of a girl.

"Germans, we have been your commanders, and comrades, for a while now. We know that you can trust us with the safety and best wishes of this group. That's why now that Siegfried has been imprisoned for conspiracy against the state, we urge you to take a bold new step forward." That voice sounded awfully familiar. "We are going to take a bold new step forward in the history of this camp. No longer will you survive on the pillaging of other camps. We can't. We will start the end of the world if we go into war again. We are burning the old standard! You cannot be rooted in a past that never was! You need to forge your own past and future! And that starts now!" With a huge flourish, the old flag of Bavaria was ripped down and burned. "In the morning, a new flag will have risen!" She took off her helmet, and everyone gasped.

It was Annabeth.

**The battle scenes are going to last most of the rest of the story (several chapters before the end will be peacetime). Stay tuned for more awesomeness! And it gets WAY more violent, so if you thought there wasn't enough here, just wait. Fave and follow! And REVIEW! (10/22)**


	24. Erik: I Go Mad

**Warning: extremely violent.**

**Erik: I Go Mad**

I didn't see who the person was. All I heard were gasps.

I had a debt to settle with the guy who was now sitting in the holding cell.

By the time I got there, he was still bound and gagged. Good.

I stepped inside and heaved him over my shoulder to much muffled protest.

When we got to the Great Hall, I checked inside to make sure nobody was there. As I expected, that was case.

I dropped him on the floor. "Take a long look at me, vermin," I spat. "I want you to know whose life you destroyed."

I knew it was him. The face, the body expressions- it was definitely him. It was my worst enemy when I was at camp the first time.

He laughed a cruel laugh. "Oh, Erik, you have no idea who I am! I am the hero Siegfried. I came because I have a vengeance against your… life choices." What was this idiot talking about? I was really beginning to lose my patience. "What life choices?" I growled. "Don't you know my story? I was betrayed and conspired against. By whom? Do you remember, boy?" I thought long and hard. Sigurd was indeed betrayed by his loved one. And what was her name?

Oh, shit.

Brynhild.

"You're telling me that you ruined my livelihood because my girlfriend _happened to have the same name _as yours?" I was really angry now. "Next, you'll be telling me you possessed me to kill her." "Actually…" I wheeled around to face him. I walked over, jerked him up, and held his face on my own level. "Say those words to my face, demon!" I yelled as I threw him up into the air. Aethir lashed out and grabbed him, hanging him by his feet from the rafters. "SAY IT!" He laughed again. "I had to do what I had to do," he said. "And if that included having her dead, then that's what needed to happen!" "You're no hero," I said quietly. Aethir flickered from my hands. "You're a demon. You escaped… or were employed by somebody. If you tell me who you're working for, I might let you go." "The god of fire," he said smugly. "That is all I'll tell you!" I let out some Aethir, and it bruised him up pretty bad. "WHO?" I continued. "I refuse to tell, child." "Then, 'Sigurd'", I said in a low voice. "You. Will. PAY!" And at that moment, knives of Aethir slashed across his body, giving him deep wounds that wouldn't heal.

My rage was at a peak now. I was unaware of my surroundings. I entered a haze in which I wouldn't emerge until this evil was dead.

With a loud roar, I cut the rope that had been tying him to the ceiling. I let him drop to the hard cement floor. He landed with a sickening sound that like a _crunch _and a _smack_. His neck was broken, he had severe internal injuries and a fractured skull. Despite this, he was still barely moving. "I curse you to Nidhogg," I said, and finished him off with a quick blast to the head. He stopped moving.

I dropped to a knee, breathing heavily. I stood up, and turned.

There, standing behind me, was Brynhild and the five friends I had worked so hard to make, who had just watched me torture and murder someone, violently.

So I did the only thing I could do well.

Run.

"ERIK!"

It was a girl's voice. I didn't care. I ran to the only place I knew I would be safe an uninterrupted- the home of the dead, which also happened to have my dorm room in it. Nobody could go in there without feeling the presence of my mother- who, of course, scared the _scheiß _out of everybody. I did not, however, count on a certain person.

As I was about to enter my room, I was tackled from behind and flattened. Someone got on top of me and held me down, drowning out my Aethir so I couldn't defend myself. I started gasping for air, then a soft hand landed on my shoulder. With a single, smooth motion, it flipped me over on my back, and before I knew it, I was pulled into a rough kiss.

Wait. I had felt those lips before.

When I stopped panicking, I saw that it was Brynhild, still in that goddamn armor, looking as pretty as ever. Her face was not suggestive of happiness, however.

"You've got to stop running away," she said with concern. "It makes it very hard for me to love you." She picked me up (I had forgotten how strong she was) and nearly cracked a couple of ribs. "Now, can we agree to not run away? We're going out there together and we'll explain everything. It will be okay." And we walked, hand in hand, and I remembered for the first time in over a year what it felt like to be loved.

**Erik's first (and probably only) POV. This needed to be told from his perspective. And yes, things will get better. Or worse, depending on your views. (10/23)**


	25. Reyna: Let's Go Fulfill a Prophecy

**Reyna: Let's Go Fulfill a Prophecy**

Stupid prophecies. They can be anything from a minor inconvenience to something that totally screws up the plans you had for the entire summer.

This was one of the latter.

Me and the other four were standing in the Great Hall, looking at the freshly dead corpse of the German commander… or so it seemed. We had heard Erik call him/it a demon, and the thing did say it was obeying the orders of a fire god. My mind harked back to the prophecy, which mentioned something about a fire god needing to die in a golden hall. But a realization came to me soon after that.

None of what we had done so far fulfilled the prophecy. Our adventure was just beginning.

The rest of the night was filled with quiet nervousness. We weren't exactly sure what to expect of the Germans after the leaders were revealed to be our two questers. We didn't know whether they were for real or not. The commanders being Annabeth and Percy, it was a sure bet they were for real. But one thing I've learned is to never place a sure bet.

At about 2 a.m, as Nico, Jason, and I were huddled around a fire in the center of camp (Piper had gone to sleep), we saw two shadowy figures coming toward the camp. One seemed to be carrying the other. One was definitely a female; I wasn't sure about the other one.

It was Brynhild and Erik (as soon as I saw it was Erik, my face burned red for thinking he was a girl). Brynhild had changed out of her armor and now wore something that definitely looked more comfortable- a parka, wool hat, sweats and boots. She looked like the 'Norwegian-Minnesotan winter outfit' poster girl. She was cradling Erik in her arms, and she had wrapped him in a blanket, like a small child. He was clearly having nightmares. No shit. He had done something that would've gotten you executed at Camp Jupiter. Then again, I was trying hard not to judge this kid- he did things that we may have thought to be unforgivable, but they were for a reason. She looked at us, concerned. Not for us, but for him. Finally, running her fingers through his long grey hair, she said, "Why does he get himself into these things? He always defeats or kills something, then he feels awful about it and runs away." She laughed with that birdsong laugh we had heard earlier. "Oh, dear. I guess that's what I get for falling in love with the Prince of Death. My mother is Freyja- goddess of love, war and witchcraft, you know. She also the queen of the Valkyries. That's where I get my strength- and my name! Brynhild was the most famous Valkyrie who ever lived. Or infamous, depending on who you ask." She looked distastefully towards the corpse she had tied upside-down hanging from a lightpost in the center of camp; for some reason, this made Nico quite content.

"Sigurd- or Siegfried, as the Germans called him- and the original Brynhild were lovers, and soon they were set to be married. The original Brynhild was, well, the naïve white girl you would assume her to be. A sorceress didn't want her and the handsome Sigurd to get married- she wanted Sigurd to marry her daughter, Gudrun. She snuck a potion into Sigurd's drink that made him forget about Brynhild completely, and soon he was with Gudrun. Brynhild, in the meantime, ran off with Gunther, the sorceress's son. After many adventures, Brynhild got mad at Sigurd for something he didn't do and orchestrated his murder; feeling intense remorse, she jumped onto his funeral pyre, so they both went to Helheim together." The group went silent. "Ah, dontcha just love Norse legends?" said Nico. "Such happy endings!"

"I caught Erik here trying to lock himself in his room. He does that a lot. He was scared of what the repercussions might be from you guys," she said. "Please," she begged, "don't hold it against him." What I would've seen in her a year ago was snivelling, overprivileged, appeasing, and weak. Now, though, I saw someone that was protective, fierce, compassionate, and devoted.

It's amazing what worlds open up to you when you get your head out of the sand and look at the real world. I had a hard life, sure, but sometimes it's better off than others.

The lessons you could get from a girl who had been dead for a year.

"We won't, don't you worry," said Jason. "We've spent enough time with him to know that he's a good kid. He just does scary stuff. A lot." Brynhild smiled and said simply, "Thanks."

At about that moment though, we heard the sound of metal dragging. When we looked up, we saw a slouched figure walk over toward us, stand there for about five seconds, then keel over, clanking to the ground. When we got over there, we recognized the armor: German.

"Guys," Nico said, "why do I get the feeling that we have our ninth demigod right here in front of us?"

**Told from Reyna's point of view, but I'm trying to flesh out Brynhild as a character. Could take a while; might need her own POV chapter. But, yeah, I like this. I think she's kinda cute. Follow/fave/review! (10/23)**


	26. Brynhild: My Boyfriend Has a Teddy Bear

**You asked. And you shall receive. Presenting, the wonderful, beautiful Brynhild!**

**Brynhild: My Boyfriend Has a Teddy Bear**

I felt really strange. Then again, I had returned from Helheim just a couple of days ago, so being alive after being dead for a year is quite a shock. It felt good to feel the fresh, cold air on me, not the frigid, damp, creepy air of the Realm of Death.

I hated Helheim, not because it was the Underworld and all, but because I felt so close to Erik, but so far away. He could take a train to Helheim any time he wanted, but he wouldn't be able to find me. Every person who doesn't die in honorable battle goes to Helheim, so there are millions of people down there.

I hated death. They say that death is a release from the pain of living. Well, I'm here to say thus: Unless you die in battle (and go to Valhal, where you duel, eat pork and drink mead for eternity), death sucks. A lot.

I don't know who pulled what strings to get me out of there. All I know is one moment a ghoul-like shape beckoned me to the train, and I boarded and left. Just like that. It was surreal. I watched as the Nine Realms whizzed by me, a year suddenly compressed into a few minutes.

I was spit unceremoniously out of the sky, and landed (rather unpleasantly) in the middle of camp. And the first thing that came to mind was: _Where is Erik? Where is everybody? _The next thing was: _Why am I in armor?_ I was in my combat armor, but I hadn't worn it in ages. I heard voices coming from the Great Hall. They were doing prayers before battle, and I realized that we were in big trouble.

Then, as Reyna recounted earlier, what happened next was history.

Now, I was sitting in my peacetime outfit with my boyfriend conked out in my arms. It was obvious he hadn't forgotten about me, and I certainly missed him. It was funny, being in a relationship with him. His home was where I was confined for a year, and yet he couldn't visit me. He was mine, and I was his. It was a mutual relationship.

Reyna was trying to tell me about this prophecy, but it was honestly hard to understand. She was going a mile a minute. "Whoa, Reyna!" I finally said. She stopped. "Back up, and go from the beginning. Remember, I just came back from being dead." Her boyfriend, Nico, interjected. He was an interesting boy. He was a lot like Erik, only I could feel that he could do some things that no person should ever be able to. "Here's the gist: Nine demigods have to go to Helheim for something. A hammer has to find the thief of an aura, and once that's happened, the skull and eagle will be bound. To prevent the apocalypse, a fire god has to die in a golden hall. That's the prophecy. We have no idea what it means. We have eight demigods of note here, so there has to be a ninth somewhere."

When our mysterious German stumbled and collapsed in front of us, it was like the gods gave us the answer to the first two lines. Now, we just needed to do the next two, and hearing Helheim's name again was not exactly enthralling to my ears.

We decided to figure it all out in the morning- or, as you mortals would call it, afternoon. It was late at night/early in the morning, and we were all suffering from fatigue. So I carried my Erik to his dorm, laid him in bed, covered him up and gave him a kiss. He immediately curled up with the teddy I got him for Valentine's Day a while back. I didn't know he still had that thing. Before I left, I took one last look on the love of my life- crashed on the bed in a position no person should ever sleep in, with old SpongeBob pajamas and a teddy bear. I smiled and left.

As I got into my dorm and fell asleep, I dreamed about all of the adventures I would have with Erik and my new friends in the coming weeks.

Happiness.

**I thought that was rather good, no? Don't worry, there's more :) I actually like writing in the POVs of my Norse characters more than the Riordan ones. Oh, well. The story's not even close to being over yet, by the way. Still lots of action-packed awesomeness! Love you guys, as always! Fave/follow/review! (10/23)**


	27. Erik: Helheim's Gate

**AN: Hey, guys. Sorry I didn't get some chapters done this weekend, I was busy with home life. I'll make it up with double chapters tomorrow and Tuesday, how's that?**

**Now, on a more serious matter. This book will have a sequel, and I just wanted to give you a few heads up.**

**- It will focus more on the Norse side of things, with intermittent commentary about the Riordan characters.**

**- If Magnus Chase turns out to be decent, I might do a crossover.**

**- The end of the world will happen, either in the next book or after.**

**- I will respond to all PMs that you send me, and all questions you post I will respond to.**

**- About this book: Two characters will die. I'll leave the guessing up to you.**

* * *

><p><span><strong>Erik: Helheim's Gate<strong>

I awoke with a start.

I was in my bed, after an awful night of nightmares. I felt cold and chilly inside, even though I had the warmest room in the whole camp (I had several fires going). I tried to cover myself with more blankets, but nothing doing. When I rubbed my eyes to clear out the sleep, I saw a tall female, one half of her body pale and alive, the other a skeleton.

"AH! MOM!" I yelled. "Sorry, dear," she said reproachfully. "I just thought I might pay you a visit. You know what you need to do next." I, still sleepy, said, "Wha-?" With a little laugh, she said, "You need to go down to Helheim and convince the dead that it would be in their best interest to fight for the Aesir." I frowned. "What do you mean?" "The Ragnarök prophecies state that the dead of Helheim, as well as myself, will fight against the gods, on the side of Loki and the giants, you know this." A pit started to form in my stomach. _Fight against the gods? _It sounded suicidal, let alone treasonous. The whole system was set up around the Aesir and Vanir, and any action against them was seen as the doing of dark spirits.

I knew that evil needed to be purged, but what was evil? Being the son of two spirits consigned to the dark realm conflicted with the people of the light realm with whom I had been very close for several weeks now.

She said, "I'm not going to tell you what path to take. The Norns may be able to see the end, but you have the power to change that. I need to tell you something that I kept from you as a little child, but it now may change how you make decisions."

"Do you remember how I came to be, son?" "Of course," I said. I knew the story by heart. "You were born to Loki and the giantess Angrboda, the youngest of the three Chaos beasts, along with Fenrir the wolf and Jörmungandr the snake. Odin threw Jörmungandr into Midgard's oceans, kept Fenrir but ended up bonding him, and put you in charge of Hel, originally located on Niflheim; you eventually gained your own realm, Helheim." Hel nodded, content. "There is one part, though, that is often overlooked. When Odin cast me into Niflheim, he said, 'You are the ruler of Yggdrasil, for all that has been will eventually fall into Death.' Therefore, my son, while Odin Allfather may be king of Asgard, I'm Queen of the Nine Realms, and my progeny is heir to this title. Eventually, son, even I will die, and you will have to assume that post. That may be tomorrow, or at the rebirth of Yggdrasil. But it is something you must prepare for. I must go now. I'll see you soon." And with a smile that reached from her beautiful life side to her skeletal death side, she vanished.

I sat in bed for what seemed like hours, wondering what the heck I had just heard. My mother was the ruler of the Universe? What was this? I didn't remember that part, but it made sense. Even the gods would pass through death eventually.

At long last, someone knocked on my door. "Come in," I said warily. It was Jason. I liked Jason; he was the kind of person who you could just be buddies with, no matter your background. "Erik? Are you okay? We heard discussions, but we couldn't make out the words." "Nah, I'm cool," I lied. I got dressed in the funerary armor that Nico and I had worn during the battle. Nico and I were going to preside over the funerals for the heroic dead, then go to Helheim.

As we prepared the dead for rites, Nico asked if I was okay. He knew something had happened, and I felt that he could tell if I lied or not. So with a confidential whisper, I said, "I was visited by my mother this morning." He looked before as if he had just woken up (from what I had heard of the Southern demigods, sleep was on a when-I-feel-like-it basis), but as soon as I said that, he shot awake, as if someone had just given him a caffeine injection. "We need to talk after this, and bring Brynhild, too," he said. "I have a feeling she might be of extreme help."

The Roman, Greek, and Norse demigods gathered in the Great Hall. The honorable dead were prepared according to customs; the Norse and Romans were in their armor with their swords; the Greeks in colorful shrouds. I went first.

"Mother Hel, Lady of the End of Life and the Hereafter, I call upon you to recognize these noble spirits as having honorably died in battle, for their comrades and country. I commend these bodies to Valhal, to join the mighty forces of Odin and the Aesir during the End of Days." And with that, we set them off on the lake in flaming funerary boats. Nico did his thing with the Greeks, and Jason with the Romans; and soon there were about 15 flaming boats on the lake as they disappeared into Elysium.

The camp, being in period of mourning, was very quiet, and most people were in their dorms taking the day off for remembrance. I couldn't, though. Soon Nico and I were prepared to go to Helheim. Brynhild came running in her peacetime outfit, saying, "And you were going to leave without me? Ha! This needs to happen, guys. The prophecy, remember? The nine need to be broken by Helheim's gate. I think that means we send some to Helheim." Nico and I shared a look, then said, "If that's how you look at it." The three of us held each other's hand, while I called up to the sky, "Anytime now, Heimdall."

We soon appeared in front of a massive cave entrance. A mist or fog seemed to emanate from it, saying, 'You might not survive if you enter.' I knew what lay inside. "We're here," I said. "Welcome to Helheim's gate."

We crossed the bridge that covered the Hvergelmir river, which was flowing from Niflheim. Right inside the entrance was a monstrous guard dog. "Careful of Garm," I said to my comrades. "He's made of pure evil." With a loud, piercing whistle I subdued the beast, and we ran past into the main cave entrance.

As we walked, our steps echoed throughout the cave. It got progressively hard to see, even though there was still light. We could hear the screams of the tortured from deep within. It was enough to drive any mortal insane enough to go here to kill themselves and join them. It was good I was with another son of the dead and somebody who had just returned from here.

After a while, we entered the large, rocky central chamber. It was very damp, misty, and light. We could see the forms of bodies wandering through the mist, and still the screams of the eternally damned.

We made our way to Eljudnir, my mother's hall. Upon entering, both of my constituents gasped in amazement. "This is where I lived for the majority of my life," I said. "Not awful."

It was a beautiful palace, with your typical European palace fare, except for one notable difference… everything was pure white, except for the things that were sparkling silver and gold.

At the end of the large hall, were two thrones, one a bit larger than the other. The larger one was filled by Mother, in her appearance that she came to me in this morning; in the smaller throne was a tall, handsome god that seemed to radiate light. "Hello, Baldr," I said officially. He and I were on mediocre terms; he had tried to be my adoptive father, but it didn't really work out well. I was too much like my mother, and too mischievous for him to corrall me (I wonder where I got THAT from?). Baldr nodded at me. There was nothing between him and Hel. It was just that he was the most beloved god, so he got preferential treatment. This sort of screwed me over, since Hel had to pretend that I was a demigod, son of her and a mortal, instead of what I actually was. By rights, I should've had that throne, but no worry. I liked Baldr. He was alright, we just had some tension between us.

"Lady Hel," Nico said, and knelt before her; Brynhild and I did the same. "Acknowledged, my loves," she said. "Erik knows what needs to happen down here, don't you?" I grimaced. "I feel that would be better accomplished later," I said. "Hmm," my mother thought. "You might be right. Go back to Midgard, and assemble your team. Do what you need to do, then come back here." I bowed politely, and said, "I hope to see you soon, mother." "As do I," she said with a laugh, and we left. As we meandered our way back, Nico asked, "What is it your mother wanted us to do?" "Convert the dead," I said. Brynhild frowned. "Convert them how?" "Convince them to fight for the gods instead of the giants," I said. "For the Ragnarök prophecies say that my mother and the dead of Helheim will fight against the honored dead of Valhal. My mother doesn't have a burning love of the Aesir, but she sure as heck doesn't like the giants." "So what you're saying is, you, technically, are an enemy of Odin?" asked Brynhild. "Well, not really," I said. "I haven't actively declared my allegiance to either side, and neither has Mom. Death does not really take sides, per se; it more or less plays along."

As we left, I tried to think of how to say what Mom had told me this morning to my new friends. They would not believe it. But they had to, because the balance of the world was in our hands. And I might have the only power to stop the apocalypse from happening.

**So, yeah, sorry for being late. I'll make up for it. Love you! Fave/follow/review, please! (10/26)**


	28. Nico: Blood Brothers

**Nico: Blood Brothers**

As we stumbled our way back, trying to desperately find the entrance from whence we came, I was having difficulty following my Norse guide. Brynhild had me on the shoulder, steering me away from the sharp rock walls. She did not account for the occasional puddle and ditch, however, and soon I found myself on the floor, my shoes soaking with liquid ice- or something colder than ice. What was worse was my hands. I had cut them, and soon they were in severe pain. Erik, able to see through the impenetrable fog, bounded over to help. "Oh, gods," he muttered. "The floors of the cave are covered in poison. Not lethal, but it'll hurt like a bitch for a while." He surveyed my hands, then took a dagger and cut his own hand. Before I could say, "What the deuce did you just do to yourself," he then grabbed my open, bleeding hand. I felt a mixture of relief and shock; his Aethir absorbed the poison and healed my wound. As he pulled me up, in the misty light I could see my blood interacting with his Aethir. With a smile on the corner of his mouth, he said, "Well, Nico, I guess you're my blood brother now. The two sons of death gods- how appropriate. I'm glad to call you a brother."

Well, then.

We clambered out of the cave into the freezing world outside. "Anytime, Heimdall," said my new blood brother, shivering.

The train ride back was immensely awkward. We sat there on the train- me, then Brynhild, then Erik. Many weird looks later, we got off and entered Midgard.

"Well, what do we do now?" I asked, as we stood in the middle of Grand Central Station. "We go home, and explain what is to happen next to the four camps," said Brynhild. We concurred, and boarded Bifrost again, this time for Minnesota.

When we got there, there was clamor in the German camp. Annabeth stood in front of them and introduced their new flag- a flag bearing similar shape to the Norwegian one, except for red, white, and blue it was black, red, and yellow. Annabeth said, "This is the herald of a new age- one of peace with our neighbors, living the traditional German way of life."

"You may not know this, but Percy and I are not from around here. We were on a mission from the Greek camp, searching for a hailing signal coming from this area. We met Sigmund" -at this, several soldiers, including our two friends, started tearing up- "and he led us to your camp. Because we are not German, we feel that it's fitting for the new German age to begin with a German. Gunther, please step forward!" A small, skinny boy with blond hair came to the front. "Forces of Medjanagarnaz, welcome your new _Kommandant_!" Roars and applause rippled through the army. "We leave the soldiers to you," Percy said with a pat on the back. "We trust you will lead them to glory and honor with your Norse brethren." And with that, the army of hunting horns split out a fanfare, and the new standard of the German camp was raised.

Percy and Annabeth joined Erik, Brynhild, Reyna, Jason, Piper, and I that evening in the Great Hall for hot chocolate. They still wore their German commander armor. "We're going to keep these," Percy said with a laugh. "It's good luck." I didn't quite realize how much I had missed him and Annabeth over the last couple of weeks. They were good people, people I could trust. "So, we're the prophesied, eh?" said Annabeth. "Well, sort of," said Reyna. "I've been monitoring our ninth. He's in bad shape." Percy raised his eyebrows. "Who is he? Where did he come from?" Brynhild explained. "A couple of nights ago, shortly after the battle, a kid in German armor stumbled into the camp, and collapsed. He had severe exhaustion, and showed evidence of fights- possibly with animals, judging by the marks. He's in pretty bad shape. Unless you guys have some very good healers, he won't be in decent shape to travel for a couple of days." I had a thought, and snapped my fingers. "Erik," I said. "Come with me."

We went to the center of camp, and I summoned Bifrost. "Camp Half-Blood, please, Heimdall," I called. Soon after crossing the rainbow, we were in front of the Apollo cabin. I grinned.

I pounded on the door. Several muffled groans came from within. "Will Solace!" I called. A very tired and weak voice said, "Who the hell is it at this ruddy hour?" "The Gestapo," I said sarcastically. "It's Nico, you dolt." The door opened, and a very tired kid, about my age, wandered out. After yawning, he said, "What do you need? And why is that kid with you?" "Will, we need you," I begged. He frowned. "Who? And where?" he said. "Just follow us," I responded, and Erik summoned Bifrost. Will gasped. We crossed the bridge into Minnesota, and said, "What _was _that?" "Not now," I said urgently. I dragged him to the Norse infirmary.

"Gods, Nico," he complained. "It's, like, 40 degrees out here! Where the heck are we?" "Minnesota," I say nonchalantly. "Good gods," he grumbles, and steps inside. There's only one person on a cot. His armor had been delicately removed, and he'd been bandaged all over. "Gods, what happened to him? He has open wounds all over the place; if he's not treated soon, these'll go gangrenous." He summoned a little healing magic, and produced some antiseptic and gauze. After removing his bandages, we nearly threw up at the smell. Whatever had gotten him, got him really good. Holding his breath, Will mixed his magic into the antiseptic, and applied it with gauze. The kid woke up with a start, and started to cry in pain. "I didn't say it wouldn't hurt, kid," Will grumbled. "I'm not at my prime at 11 pm." After treating and dressing the mysterious boy's wounds with fresh bandaging, Will stood up, sanitized the area, then said, "There. It'll be a day or two, but he'll certainly be happier than he was." Erik took Will to get him back to Camp Half-Blood. Before Will climbed Bifrost, we shared a glance, then quickly averted our eyes. After the Gigantomachy, there had been a short moment between us; but it was fleeting, and we agreed it would be for the better that we stayed friends.

The next morning, I was awoken by the smell of bacon. Mmmm, bacon. I followed the bacon blindly until I was in the Great Hall, half dressed in my PJs. The girls laughed their heads off, while the boys just rolled their eyes at them. I was bleary-eyed and yawning. I then realized that there was no bacon, and I'd been tricked. I frowned and moaned, "Oh, for Hades' sake, Brynhild, couldn't you at least give me a top? It's freezing out here." Erik was the only one paler than me. My skin seemed to match the shade of white that I saw in Helheim; that was not an entirely pleasing thought. "Fine, then," said Erik's girlfriend, laughing. She produced a massive parka that went down to my shins. I groaned, but mumbled, "Whatever. What was that for, anyway?" She pointed to a very handsome, blond, older kid with scruff. The guy looked like comic-book Thor, only younger. He was wearing German armor, but no helmet. "This is Siegmund," said Percy. "He was the guy who led us to the German camp, and he was the commander before Annabeth. He's quite decorated, and I believe him to be the ninth to join us."

**Mmm. Bacon. So... who do you think the two to die are going to be? [evil laugh] (10/27)**


	29. Erik: We Prepare to Take On the Fire God

**Erik: We Prepare to Take On the Fire God**

"You're WHAT?" yelled everybody present. I had told them what Mom had told me earlier. "You heard what I said," I huffed. I hadn't wanted to tell them; they'd probably treat me differently now. I hated being treated differently. "I have a choice to make at the end of this, and it won't be an easy one." I feel that it may be a little easier soon, though. I glanced at Nico. I had a plan to share with him, and he usually didn't like my plans.

Better now than ever. "I have a proposition for Nico," I announced. Nico wheeled around and stared at me. "But it'll have to wait until we accomplish our mission." The group groaned. "Back to the task," I said. "What leads do we have on a fire god?"

Siegmund started, "The only one I can think of is Loge, the equivalent of your Loki." My stomach dropped. My father had to die? Unthinkable. "There has to be another solution," I pleaded. "Loki's my father." Annabeth said, "I'm sorry, Erik, we haven't been able to find another way." Brynhild's eyes then grew wide. "No," she said. "There just might be." She ran over to the bookshelf and grabbed a large book- the _Prose Edda_. Flipping through it, she produced the story of an eating contest between Loki and a fire giant named _Logi_. Logi was a fire giant, and was the Norse personification of fire. "His name in Old German? Loge."

"Well, that settles it, then," said a rapidly deflated Jason. "We have to find the thief of an aura and kill the fire giant Logi in a golden hall. At least we're getting somewhere." The mood seemed to drop as rapidly as the temperature. "All right, what's the aura?" "Well, aura means breeze in Latin," said a confused Reyna. "But aura also means something like personality, or the 'air' that someone carries around them." "Maybe it refers to the demon that possessed the body of Siegfried?" Percy guessed. "That means we would have to find the demon, or its master. And what golden hall?" "The only one I can think of is Asgard," said Brynhild. "So here is what we have to do," Annabeth piped up. "We have to catch the demon or his employer; if we do, the skull and eagle will be bound. No idea what that means. Then we have to kill the fire giant in the hall of Asgard?" A palatable nervousness filled the group with fear. We had no preparation, or plan. "Well, let's get started by getting ready for the day. Then gather back here."

Nico grabbed me on my way out. "What do you want to propose?" he said. He looked slightly miffed, but did a good job of hiding it. "After hearing what you can do, I'm slightly afraid to know." I looked around, then came real close and said in a low voice, "Nico, you may have to take a position of great honor, depending on what happens in the future. Be prepared for it." And I left it at that. He nodded, knowingly.

We gathered again, in armor and ready for combat. The most impressive was Siegmund, with shining golden armor, a black-and-white helmet plume, and a most impressive large golden sword. Percy and Annabeth were in their German _Kommandant _uniforms, Reyna and Jason were in legionnaire uniforms, and Brynhild gave herself and Piper special armor that she had made. Nico and I wore our black funerary armor. We were nine armed and dangerous demigods, ready to take on the biggest baddies and live to tell the tale.

"Everyone ready for this?" asked Percy. We all shared a look; a look of hope, but also one of doom. We knew that the mission we were about to go on was extremely dangerous, possibly suicidal. But it needed to be done. The world depended on it. "Alright, let's go," he said. "Erik, it's all you." With a deep breath, we all held hands in a circle in a moment of silence. Then I prayed, "Hel, Mother, Lady of Death, protect us. We are fighting for a noble cause, and send us to Valhal if we shall fall." After about five minutes of quiet, I called, "Heimdall, whenever you're ready."

As we approached the familiar domed fortress, I looked back down Bifrost at Earth, and sighed. I might not be coming back. We kept walking, though. Heimdall, apparently knowing of our intentions, said, "Bifrost is set for Asgard, Master Erik." Then he knelt to us, igniting surprise from everyone. "May the Aesir and Vanir keep you blessed." As we walked towards Asgard, Heimdall opened portals showing us all the people scattered through the Nine Realms, kneeling before us as if we were the gods ourselves.

We entered Asgard proper, making our way for the high central hall. As we entered, we noticed that the Aesir and Vanir were in council together. Odin Allfather stood and proclaimed, "Who are you, and why have you come here?" I stepped forward and said, "Uncle Odin, I suggest you and your fellows vacate this hall. Now." Odin seemed taken aback at this remark, and retorted, "Why should we, Erik Hel-son?" "Because soon, a fire giant will make his way here and we suggest that you're not here for it. This is a prophecy we're fulfilling." "Not one of the Norns', I see," Odin growled. "No, one of Delphi, the oracle of the South," I said. "Well, may I at least have the consolation of knowing who these people are?" One by one, we stated our names and parentage; Odin, seeming pleased, ordered the council of gods disassembled for the time being. We were alone, waiting for the fire god to appear, and our attempt to defeat him.

We were answered relatively quickly. "Oh, you poor, puny, demigods," said a very low voice. The temperature seemed to rise as a tall humanesque figure of flame took shape in front of us.

"I am Logi, fire incarnate, Erik's Bane," the beast grinned.

**And let it begin! (10/28)**


	30. Nico: Victory at a Price

**Nico: Victory at a Price**

And so it was the nine of us, meagerly armed against a fire god equipped with a not-too-shabby sword of fire. It had less of a physical form; it appeared as a vague being, shaped in fire. Erik decided to do the wise thing: have him spill, then kill him. "Hello, 'Thor', 'Siegfried', or whatever you've pretended to be," Erik spat. "You know for a fire god, you're not bad at hiding your true form. Surtr would be proud." The god stood and stared at Erik, then laughed a cruel, metallic laugh. "Oh, really, Hel-son?" he boomed. "This is my own doing. I'm not doing anything for Surtr, little one. That old fool still sits and stews inside Muspelheim, waiting for Ragnarök to happen, and not doing anything about it! Well, I'm here to accelerate that process." And with that, he raised his mighty sword to smite us all, but then, he unexpectedly dropped it. A biting chill swept through the hall, neutralizing the heat generated by Logi. "Hello, dear," said a female voice that sounded like a little girl's.

Hel had arrived.

She did indeed look like a young, fair, Norwegian maiden, albeit with black hair. Then, she transformed into a tall warrior with armor that looked like it was made from human bone. She wielded a spear of terrible power, and a knife hung by her side made from cold stone.

If there ever was a goddess of death, she was definitely it.

Erik spat out some Aethir, and Hel amplified it into a pressure bomb that hit Logi square in the chest. He went flying into the air and landed on his back. Percy sent hurricanes to douse him, but I knew that eternal flame like that couldn't be put out so easily. Jason worked on summoning large lightning bolts, but they had no effect. Logi swatted away my skeletons like fruit flies. It was beginning to look hopeless, then Siegfried had an idea. "I'll get up there," he said, pointing to a balcony above us. "He won't expect me there." "But you'll be caught!" I pleaded. "No, I won't," he said. "I have a sword and magic helmet." He smiled at me, then left me wondering what he meant. Then, I realized. I grinned back at him as he climbed up to the balcony.

We were losing pretty badly. Almost nothing was working. Erik came to this conclusion too, and said, "Mom! The only thing that will take him out is a breakdown! You need to shield the others and look away!" Hel grabbed Percy and I, who were dangerously close to Logi, and dragged us behind her. She then raised a shield, and it was all up to Erik now.

I could see through the shield, though. Erik started forming a massive, swirling tornado of Aethir. His eyes, veins, and eventually skin started to turn black. Then, in a burst of rage, he exploded like a nuke.

I turned away just as Logi swung his sword one last time before succumbing to Erik's Aethir bomb. The sound was deafening, like a sonic boom amplified many times. The shield broke, and I caught Erik just as he was about to faint. Piper started feeding him ambrosia, hopeful that it worked on the Norse like the Southern kids. Apparently, it did; after a minute or two he stood up shakily and surveyed the damage. Logi was still writhing. Then, we heard a _clank _of armor hitting a hard floor.

Oh, gods. No!

_NO!_

I saw Siegmund keel over, dangerously close to the edge. He had probably gotten some Aethir in his lungs. He stumbled to the edge, no helmet, armor in disarray. He withdrew his sword and yelled, "_Deutsche, Norweger, Griechen und Römer bis zum Ende!" _Then, to the screams of Annabeth and Percy, fell off the edge. His sword plummeted straight into Logi's heart. There was a tremendous tremor, and Logi's burned-out hulk of a body dissipated into ash.

Siegmund was dead, of course. "He should've died in the blast," said Erik with a touch of interest. We were shaken by something else, though. From behind us we heard someone hit the floor. Hel had been hit by Logi's last swing, and she fell to the ground.

**Oh shit. (10/29)**


	31. Erik: Requiem for Death

**Erik: Requiem for Death**

When I turned and I saw who was on the ground, my stomach started burning. At least it felt like it.

No.

But the closer I got, the more I knew it was her.

NO! IT CAN'T BE!

But it had to be. I knew this would happen eventually. I just wasn't prepared for it happening now.

When I saw my mother's body, with a large gash in her abdomen saturated with silver blood, the sight hit me like a Mack truck. I doubled over in anguish, and screamed. I screamed for all the years of pain. I screamed for the love I had shunned. My only family was dead. Well, okay; the only family that cared about me. In my pain, tendrils of Aethir shot up like black fireworks.

I felt Piper trying to pull me off of her. I wouldn't let go. She pried me off of my mother's dead body, and embraced me very tightly. I couldn't stop crying. I knew that many of my comrades had lost family, but I doubt that any had lost their godly parent before. The Southern gods were purely immortal; nothing could kill them. Norse gods weren't so lucky. They could die. It was one of the harsh realities of Norse life; death came to all, regardless.

After what seemed like days, we walked out of the wreckage of the golden hall, Hel in my arms, Siegmund in Percy's. As we left, not only were the Aesir and Vanir there, but the Olympians, the Roman, Greek, German, and Norse camps, Heimdall, as well as viewpoints to all Nine Realms. There was even a Latino boy, with a girl about his age standing there. He was of Midgard, and I had the feeling that it was Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus. Every being in Yggdrasil watched as we bore the dead to the edge of the plain outside of the city.

There, we prepared the two bodies for Ginnungagap. We refurbished Siegmund's armor and helmet, redressed, and put his sword to his chest. My mother was dressed in a simple white dressing, with her spear. Nico and I bore her, while Annabeth and Percy bore Siegmund. The German orchestra intoned a funeral march. and we put them out on the edge of Asgard, overlooking the whole World Tree. Siegmund was blessed, then buried on Midgard. With a blessing, my mother was put out to sea on a funeral boat of flame, and it floated out to the stars before disintegrating into eternal dust.

"Goodbye, Mother," I whispered.

I heard the dust whisper back, "I love you."

**The feels! (10/29)**


	32. Nico: I'm Offered Godhood

**Nico: I'm Offered Godhood**

Upon returning from Asgard, the Greeks, Romans, and Norse went their separate ways about a week afterwards. Until then, we met up at the German camp for Siegmund's funeral. And boy, was it a hero's funeral; full orchestral Requiem Mass, whole camp was there, the works. After it, the eight of us gathered in the central hall for drinks. I didn't care for the Germans' fare: I wasn't really a meat-n'-beer type. The Norse obviously were, as well as Percy and Annabeth; they had had to live off of this stuff while living here, so that made sense. Piper obviously wasn't really into it, being a vegetarian, but Jason seemed to be.

It was awkwardly quiet for about ten minutes. We were all still in shock, Erik being by far the worst off. After we got to Camp Half-Blood, he was in a clouded world of his own for days. Not even Brynhild could get through to him. After a while, we could tell he got tired of us pestering him, so he created a sentryman out of Aethir to deter us from bothering him. From a distance, we could see him recreating scenes from his life with Aethir, particularly with his mom. I knew this wasn't healthy (having gone through this with my sister a couple of years ago), and he could seriously cause harm to himself or others.

I disintegrated the guard with my sword, and sat down next to him. After secluding himself for a couple of days, he had regressed a bit. He seemed younger and a little smaller. He didn't seem to care that I was sitting next to him. He sort of glared at me for about five seconds, then went back to staring at the ocean. "The Allfather wants me to report to Asgard on Saturday, and he wants you there, too," he said. "I have a feeling it's either to punish me or to figure out how to fix the wreck the Norse world's become." I frowned. "Why would Odin want me there too?" I asked. Erik shrugged. "Dunno," he said simply.

As we prepared for our journey, I saw how the camp treated him. He had been shunned by the whole camp the first time he was here, probably because he was a lot more frightening then. But now that he had Brynhild with him and had a more regal air about him, people seemed to respect him more. For this, I was disgusted at my fellow Greeks. He had been through more than any of them could ever fathom, and because he had a girlfriend and fancy armor they treated him better. I became disillusioned with being at Camp Half-Blood again; _then again, _I thought, _that's only some people. _No, I thought. No matter what I told them, they still treated him with fear. It made me very mad.

Finally, Saturday came. Erik and I climbed Bifrost, and, intriguingly, it landed right in front of the golden hall of Asgard. We were not wearing armor; Norse weavers came with suits, hats, and whatnot. I was wearing a black tails jacket and white tux shirt with a green-and-black bow tie. They gave me a top hat to go with it. It felt right, especially with my Stick of Destiny that Erik had made for me. Erik was wearing the same, only his tux shirt was unnaturally white, like so much of his realm. We looked like gods ourselves, and garnered a lot of turned heads as we walked towards the rainbow bridge.

We entered, walking towards a Grand Council; Aesir and Vanir, with Odin on his all-seeing throne. We knelt before them, and Odin said, "Acknowledged, heroes, so please stand up." We stood and braced ourselves.

"So," he began. "I've appointed Baldr to Hel's throne in the meantime. Someone has to, and he's been there for the longest." Erik said, "I feel obligated to express my distaste, Allfather. I don't feel that he should be a long-term solution." "Of course not," Odin replied, waving his hand. "That's why you're here." There was a long silence. "You have a choice to make, Erik."

"One choice would be to take your mother's throne, which is yours by inheritance," he offered. "The other is quite something. We feel that the throne of Asgard is ready. You would take that throne, and you would rule over all Norsemen on Midgard, as well as any demigods allied with us." Erik thought. "If I took the throne of Midgard, what would happen to Helheim? What would happen to my home realm?" Odin paused before saying, "There is one other, and only one other, who can take the throne of Helheim." And, pointing his spear right at me, he said, "And he's right here." My stomach twisted in a knot. Me? Take the throne? "With all due respect, Allfather, what does that entail?" I asked. He replied, "Well, you would become a god, like your blood brother here, as well as any bride you choose. You would also have complete control over the dead, and, in effect, be the ruler of Yggdrasil, since death is an inevitability." Ooh. OOH. That sounded good. "Um, can I think it over for a day or so?" I asked meekly. "Sure."

When we got back, I ran around, looking for Reyna. When I found her, she looked at me in surprise. "Well, Nico, I haven't seen you this excited in a while. What's going on?"

"How would you like to be a goddess?"

**What should she say? :) (10/29)**


	33. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

It was a gorgeous day at Camp Jupiter. That was something that Reyna remembered distinctly. It was the day she announced her resignation as praetor, two years to the day of Logi's defeat.

Everyone in the legion had been expecting it at some point; she had been absent, more or less, for the last couple of weeks. After returning home following Siegmund's funeral, she had become more withdrawn and prickly. She was tiring of the duties of praetor; they had worn her down. She needed to leave, and Frank understood why. She needed to become someone else, somebody who didn't need to worry about everything happening. She had done her duty well for the last several years, and it was time for her to move on. Reyna had appointed Hazel to succeed her. It had gotten to the point where Hazel was already the _de facto _praetor, so it made sense to appoint her full-time. Now that the four camps were in peacetime, it would be significantly less stressful.

Or so she thought.

As she packed up her belongings, ready to move to Helheim with Nico, she took one last look at Camp Jupiter, New Rome, the Little Tiber and the Field of Mars beyond. Reyna sighed, remembering the memories she had made here. The legion has changed a lot since the Giant War, she thought. It was time to start anew.

She arrived at Camp Half-Blood and set her stuff in the Big House conference room with Nico's. She was dressed in a simple white dress, hair let down; the same outfit she wore on her first date. Nico was in tails, a top hat, and green-and-black bow tie; the same he wore to the council on Asgard.

"Come on, Reyna, they're waiting for us," Nico pleaded. "I'm coming!" she yelled. "Percy and Annabeth have been there for two days now," he said. "What about Jason and Piper?" she asked. "They'll be there shortly, they're still visiting with Fenrir." They had really taking a liking to the wolf, who had shown an affinity for them. They had managed to convince Erik to petition the Aesir to let Fenrir live on Midgard, near Camp Half-Blood; the Aesir, seeing that the location was far from any Norse presence, allowed it. Fenrir had become like a friend to them, telling stories of old and being a listening voice to all of their concerns.

When Reyna and Nico stepped onto Asgard, the whole place was abuzz with excitement and festoonery. "I'm really happy for them, you know," Reyna said. Nico smiled. "I know. Who would've guessed that he would be getting married now?"

They were there for the wedding of Erik and Brynhild, followed by their coronation in Norway as King and Queen of Midgard.

They were immediately greeted by Percy and Annabeth, dressed just as exquisitely as Reyna and Nico. Percy's tux didn't seem to match his wild hair and sea-green eyes, but the golden dress that Annabeth was wearing brought out her hair color, as well as contrasting her grey eyes. "Nico, you look like nobility," Annabeth complimented. Indeed he did; he no longer had a deathly aura about him, but he was still pale, like he needed Vitamin D supplements. He was, however, a titch more muscular, and he smiled. A lot.

"He has to if he's best man," joked Percy. They laughed. Percy couldn't remember the last time he and Nico laughed together. It felt right. This is how things were supposed to be.

Upon entering the golden hall, the four of them went to go sit in the front. They were joined by Jason and Piper… as well as a pleasant surprise.

"Leo!" exclaimed Percy, and sure enough, lo and behold, there was one Leo Valdez and Calypso, dressed in their best, sitting right alongside Jason and Piper. "Hey, I said I wouldn't _completely _disappear," he said. "I'm just living my life." "What have you been up to, bro?" asked Nico. "It's been, like, four years!" "Oh, you know," said Leo. "Machine shop, exploring the world, saving Houston from a Mexican Chupacabra invasion," he said nonchalantly. "Anyway, who's the lucky couple?" "Friends of ours," Reyna said. It would be too much to explain in five minutes.

A horn announced that the proceedings were about to begin. The wedding was to take place on Asgard, and the coronation down on Midgard.

As the German brass choir played a processional march, Erik and Brynhild strode down the aisle. When the march ended, Odin cleared his throat. "Attendants- I am here to preside over the wedding of Erik, son of Hel and Loki, as well as his fiancee, Brynhild, daughter of Freyja."

"Both of these are worthy of each other. Even after the death of one of them that lasted a year, they reunited, and have proven ever faithful to each other. However, one small obstacle remains. Brynhild is only a demigod, and the law states that this proves incompatible. So, we're going to fix that."

Frigg, Odin's wife, stepped forward and said, "Brynhild dear, I hereby bestow upon you the title of Protector of the Nextborn. Not only are you now holy to all demigods, all over Midgard, but you now have the powers of magic, death, and life to protect them from harm." She addressed the stunned demigods in the audience. "The demigods of Midgard need a protector that has their interests at heart," she said. "In the last two major wars that the Children of the South have been engaged in, they had to rely upon deities that were too busy fighting each other than being concerned about their own children."

If she had said this with the Olympians in attendance, Zeus would've tried to blast her out of the sky, but in his heart Percy knew she was right. They had depended upon the Olympians twice before, and both times the demigods were nearly destroyed by the forces of evil or themselves. They had been profligate with mortals, then promptly left them to defend themselves, and going so far as to almost forget about them. Frigg was doing them a massive favor; she was giving demigods of all races a goddess with _their _causes and needs at heart. It was a relief, and lifted a weight off of many hearts.

"Now that you are a brand spankin' new goddess, I don't see any reason not to let these two be hitched," Frigg announced. "You're now husband and wife and all that jazz. Now, kiss!" As they shared a passionate kiss, the audience went wild.

After the ceremony, Nico and Erik were telling each other stories and jokes. Jason was talking to a fellow Roman demigod about Fenrir, and Piper was chatting non-stop with Brynhild and some Aphrodite girls about, well, Aphrodite things. Eventually, the eight demigods ended up clustering together, and they all shared a common expression: _Boy, am I sure damn glad I met you. _"Well, folks, it's been awesome," said Erik. "I just want to say it was a pleasure to meet all of you. I know that our relationship may have been weaker or stronger depending on circumstance, but I think you're all decent people." He had matured a lot since he first showed up to Camp Half-Blood two years ago. His face was still the same, but his hair seemed to go from a dismal grey to silver. He still had those random black streaks interspersed throughout. He started to look like a god.

After most of the ceremony-goers had moved down to Midgard for the coronation, the others did, too. The ceremony was being held in Trondheim, Norway, where the ancient Norse parliament, the Thing, had met. It was also the coronation site for Norse kings, and continued to be where Norwegian monarchs were crowned.

The modern city of Trondheim seemed to be a cute Norwegian university town, but the demigods could feel the presence of something much, much older. As they gathered in the cathedral where Norwegian crownings had occurred for over a thousand years, the voices of Vikings seemed to radiate from the walls, as if speaking to them.

A processional sounded, and Erik and Brynhild took their places at the head of the church. An Old Norse priest droned on in Old Norse (surprise), then Odin assumed the front, about to make his speech.

"It has been centuries since a true Norse king sat on the throne of Midgard," he began. "But now, we may have a chance to reestablish this ancient seat. Erik, son of Hel, please step forward." And so he did.

"The Midgardian Thing has already decreed its support for him, so the only thing left is for me to approve."

"I approve. Let both of them be crowned."

The place erupted into chaos. It was like a bomb had gone off, the people of Trondheim wondering what in the heck was happening. Nico was the first one to bound towards Erik, and the two antisocial, introverted sons of death embraced in a passionate hug. "Now now, let's be careful here," Erik said. "There's still a lot to do. I have to make a lot of repairs and get things back to how they're supposed to be."

Back at Camp Half-Blood, people were saying their goodbyes to Nico and Reyna. Everyone was having a good time, when Nico noticed Percy walking towards him.

_Oh, gods._

Nico glanced awkwardly at him, trying to avoid eye contact with Poseidon's son. It failed, however.

Percy spun him around and soon was constricting Nico with a bear hug.

Reconciled, at last.

**And so concludes this story. 125 pages of manuscript later. Hope you enjoyed it.**


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